The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit this week reaffirmed its conclusion that the federal government violated the Second Amendment when it prosecuted a Mississippi cannabis consumer for illegal gun possession. In a decision published on Monday, a three-judge panel unanimously ruled that Patrick Darnell Daniels Jr.'s conviction for violating 18 USC 922(g)(3), which makes it a felony for an "unlawful user" of a "controlled substance" to possess a firearm, "is inconsistent with our 'history and tradition' of gun regulation." It therefore fails the test that the Supreme Court established in the 2022 case New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen.
Daniels was arrested in April 2022 after he was caught with guns and the remains of a few joints during a routine traffic stop in Hancock County, Mississippi. He was convicted of illegal gun possession and sentenced to nearly four years in prison plus three years of supervised release. The conviction also meant that Daniels permanently lost his Second Amendment rights.
