When the Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the federal law that disarms people who are subject to domestic violence restraining orders last month, its ruling was narrow. "Our tradition of firearm regulation allows the Government to disarm individuals who present a credible threat to the physical safety of others," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority in United States v. Rahimi, which overturned a 2023 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. The justices left for another day the question of whether the Second Amendment allows the government to disarm people without evidence of such a threat, based merely on the existence of a restraining order that "explicitly prohibits the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force"—one option under 18 USC 922(g)(8), the statute at the center of the case.
At the same time, the Court provided reason to think it might be more skeptical of other restrictions on gun possession by explicitly rejecting the government's claim that only "responsible" citizens have Second Amendment rights. This month, the justices nevertheless vacated a 2023 decision in which the 5th Circuit overturned a marijuana user's conviction for illegal gun possession, remanding the case for further consideration in light of Rahimi. That move, combined with a passing comment in Rahimi, suggests that the Court might be inclined to uphold the federal ban on gun possession by cannabis consumers and other illegal drug users.
