The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Wyoming, on Friday upheld a federal law barring drug users from possessing guns. Hunter Biden is charged under that same law in a federal court in Delaware.<\/em><\/p>\nThe 10th<\/sup>\u00a0Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Wyoming, on Friday upheld a federal law barring drug users from possessing guns.<\/p>\nThe appeals court didn\u2019t say that the statute, 18 USC 922(g)3, is altogether constitutional,\u00a0just that a lower court judge was wrong to proclaim it unconstitutional in this case.<\/p>\n
This decision comes after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals chipped away at the law in a separate case by saying it unconstitutionally denied a marijuana user\u2019s Second Amendment rights. That case is now before the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son, is charged with that same law in a Delaware federal court. His case is ongoing.<\/p>\n
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Sorry, No<\/strong><\/h2>\nThe Colorado-based 10th<\/sup>\u00a0Circuit Court of Appeals, which also encompasses Wyoming, on Friday rejected Utah federal District Court Judge Jill Parrish\u2019s June 2022 ruling deeming the drug-user and guns law unconstitutional.<\/p>\nThe appeals court\u2019s Friday ruling has two main parts:<\/p>\n
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First, the higher court said Parrish was wrong to allow a full constitutional challenge against the law in the first place. She should have determined, rather, whether the law was unconstitutional only as charged against this particular drug user, Jonathan Alexander Morales-Lopez.<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t bar future constitutional challenges against 922(g)3,\u00a0it just corrects what this appeals court saw as the wrong approach to reviewing it.<\/p>\n
Secondly, the appeals court took it a step further and declared that the law was applied constitutionally to Morales-Lopez, and his guilty verdict should be reinstated.<\/p>\n
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Drug User And Gun<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nMorales-Lopez was found near 5.7 grams of methamphetamine and carrying a stolen gun when arrested in 2020. He\u2019d been acting as lookout while his friend robbed a Sportsman\u2019s Warehouse in Midvale, Utah.<\/p>\n
While Moralez-Lopez didn\u2019t admit to using the methamphetamine officers found in their police car after his arrest, he did admit to using drugs one month earlier.<\/p>\n
His attorney argued to the appeals court that this laid a murky evidence base for trying to convict a man who may not have used drugs recently. The attorney questioned when, if ever, a person would be able to buy a gun after eating a cannabis edible.<\/p>\n