After Joseph Johnson was convicted of unauthorized marijuana cultivation in Colorado 11 years ago, his sentence was limited to probation. But because Johnson's crime could have been punished by more than a year of incarceration, his conviction triggered a federal law that makes it a felony for anyone with such a record to possess firearms or ammunition. In 2025, after a traffic stop and a welfare check in Oklahoma revealed that Johnson owned a gun, he pleaded guilty to two counts of violating 18 USC 922(g)(1) and was sentenced to a year in federal prison.
Last April, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit upheld Johnson's conviction, rejecting his argument that it violated the Second Amendment. Now Johnson is asking the Supreme Court to overrule the 10th Circuit by allowing as-applied challenges to Section 922(g)(1). His petition, which has been listed for consideration at this Friday's Supreme Court conference, recently attracted support from the Cato Institute and three leading gun rights groups, which argue that the Second Amendment does not allow the government to categorically disarm nonviolent felons like Johnson.
