Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals Revives Case Challenging Gun Ban for Florida Medical Marijuana Patients

OG Article By Anthony Martinelli in News

The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has revived a constitutional challenge to the federal law that bars marijuana users from owning firearms, ruling that the ban may conflict with the Second Amendment.

In a decision issued Wednesday, a three-judge panel said the government had not met its burden of showing that disarming state-legal medical marijuana patients aligns with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.

The case was brought by several Florida medical marijuana patients, joined initially by former Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who argued the restriction is unconstitutional given their lawful conduct under state law.

The court’s ruling nullifies a district court decision from November 2022 that threw out the challenge

The court noted that the individuals involved had not been convicted of crimes or shown to pose a danger that would warrant taking away their gun rights.

Under federal law, marijuana use remains a misdemeanor offense, but Florida voters legalized medical marijuana in 2016.

The panel ruled that this conflict was enough to allow the case to move forward.

U.S. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Branch, writing on behalf of the panel, noted that at most the plaintiffs were guilty of a federal misdemeanor for marijuana use. She emphasized that they had not been convicted of a crime and there was no showing at this stage that their drug use made them dangerous enough to justify stripping them of gun rights.

“Accordingly, the Federal Government has failed, at the motion to dismiss stage, to establish that disarming Appellants is consistent with this Nation’s history and tradition of firearm regulation,” she wrote.

Recent federal rulings have came to similar conclusions. A judge in Texas dismissed charges against Adrian Gil after finding the government failed to prove intoxication, while the Fifth Circuit overturned Patrick Daniels Jr.’s conviction on similar grounds.

The case now returns to the lower court for further proceedings.