Supreme Court: Law Cited in Hunter Biden Case Violates the Second Amendment

The Second Amendment had a good day in court on Thursday — as it usually does when the Supreme Court actually decides a gun rights case rather than letting anti-Second Amendment appeals and district courts have the final say.

Until a few years ago, 18 U. S. C. § 922(g)(3) was a fairly obscure, if potent, weapon in the federal prosecutor’s toolkit. The law bans anyone who is an “unlawful user of ” or “addicted to” a “controlled substance” from buying, owning, or possessing a gun. That makes it an easy offense to prove and lets prosecutors throw stiff sentences at people involved in drugs and guns without, say, proving that they are drug dealers or have committed violent drug crimes. For a twofer, because drug users are not likely to confess to using illegal drugs and buying guns illegally, a user who buys a gun through legal channels can be brought up on additional charges of lying on required forms submitted to federally licensed firearms dealers — and one who fears doing that can be charged with getting a gun illegally.

About the Author

Dan McLaughlin

Dan McLaughlin is a senior writer at National Review Online and a fellow at National Review Institute.

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The Second Amendment had a good day in court on Thursday — as it usually does when the Supreme Court actually decides a gun rights case rather than letting anti-Second Amendment appeals and district courts have the final say.

Until a few years ago, 18 U. S. C. § 922(g)(3) was a fairly obscure, if potent, weapon in the federal prosecutor’s toolkit. The law bans anyone who is an “unlawful user of ” or “addicted to” a “controlled substance” from buying, owning, or possessing a gun. That makes it an easy offense to prove and lets prosecutors throw stiff sentences at people involved in drugs and guns without, say, proving that they are drug dealers or have committed violent drug crimes. For a twofer, because drug users are not likely to confess to using illegal drugs and buying guns illegally, a user who buys a gun through legal channels can be brought up on additional charges of lying on required forms submitted to federally licensed firearms dealers — and one who fears doing that can be charged with getting a gun illegally.