In June 2022, the Supreme Court clarified the constitutional test for gun control laws, saying they must be "consistent with this Nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation." To illustrate the public safety implications of that ruling, Bloomberg Law reported last year that the decision had "forced the Justice Department to abandon a firearms charge against an Iranian American drug user with suspected ties to foreign terrorism."
As reporters Ben Penn and Seamus Hughes told it, "The firearm charge against Ali Hemani, 26, appears to have served the same purpose as when it's often brought against suspects in terrorism, organized crime, and other complex cases—to keep him in jail while building a more complex investigation." But thanks to the Supreme Court's decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, the constitutionality of that charge, which under 18 USC 922(g)(3) applies to any "unlawful user" of a "controlled substance" who receives or possesses a firearm, was open to question.
