The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) has published a proposed rule in the Federal Register revising longstanding policy prohibiting the possession of a firearm by anyone with a past history of marijuana or other illicit drug use.
Under the proposed change, which is subject to public comments, any use of cannabis would no longer be defined per se as a violation of federal gun laws. Rather, the new rule would require evidence of either “compulsive” or “regular” drug use over “an extended period of time continuing into the present, without a lawful prescription or in a manner substantially different from that prescribed by a licensed physician.”
According to the agency, in Fiscal Year 2025, nearly half of those denied firearms under the ban were disapproved based upon a single past incident of drug use.
The ATF acknowledges that a change in the federal ban is necessary because there exists a “disconnect” between how federal agencies and the appellate courts are currently interpreting the law.
For decades, the US government has held that the 1968 federal law prohibiting the possession or sale of a firearm to an “unlawful user” of a federally controlled substance should be applied broadly to criminalize gun owners with any history of marijuana use.
However, several lower courts have recently issued rulings challenging the constitutionality of the federal ban. For example, in September, judges on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the federal prohibition does not apply to patients who possess medical cannabis in compliance with state laws. That case was brought by former Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried (who now serves as a member of NORML’s Board of Directors) and several medical cannabis patients.
In March, justices on the US Supreme Court will hear arguments from the Justice Department, which is appealing a 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals decision that similarly determined the blanket ban to be unconstitutional. Members of NORML’s amicus committee, which previously filed briefs in several other lower court cases, is filing a separate brief in the case.
NORML has long called for lifting the federal ban. “For too long, the government has treated cannabis consumers like second class citizens,” NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said. “Neither past nor current cannabis use should automatically preclude someone from legal protections explicitly provided by the US Constitution. Responsible cannabis consumers, and particularly those residing in jurisdictions where marijuana is legally regulated, must no longer be threatened with federal prosecution and prison simply for exercising their 2nd Amendment rights.”
NORML’s prior amicus briefs are archived in NORML’s Legal Brief Bank.