U.S. v. Baxter, decided today by the Eighth Circuit, upheld a conviction for "possessing a firearm as an unlawful drug user in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3). The Supreme Court's recent U.S. v. Hemani decision held that unlawful drug user (at least when the drug is marijuana) doesn't inherently strip away the user's Second Amendment rights, and thus concluded that some applications of § 922(g)(3) are unconstitutional. But it left open the question of what other applications might be constitutional:
We do not … address whether the government could bring a prosecution under § 922(g)(3) accompanied by individualized proof that the defendant's use of marijuana (or any other drug) renders him a danger to himself or others. Or proof that a certain drug always renders its users dangerous because of its potency or for some other reason. None of those issues is before us and we do not pass on them either way.
Quoting that language, the Eighth Circuit concluded that Hemani didn't dispose of the case. And it held that Baxter's conviction was indeed consistent with Second Amendment. First, from the facts:
