NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED FEDERAL LAWYERS
Can drug users legally own guns
|Thanks for visiting Spodek Law Group. We’re a second-generation law firm managed by Todd Spodek, with over 40 years of combined experience handling cases others won’t touch. We’ve represented clients in cases that made national headlines – Anna Delvey’s Netflix series, the Ghislaine Maxwell juror misconduct case, stalking allegations involving Alec Baldwin. If you’re reading this, you probably know the answer already – but you need to understand why, and what happens if you get caught.
Can drug users legally own guns? No. Federal law says you can’t. Doesn’t matter if marijuana is legal in your state, doesn’t matter if you have a medical card, doesn’t matter if you only use occasionally. 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3) makes it a federal crime for any unlawful user of a controlled substance to possess firearms or ammunition – and marijuana is still a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law.
What the Federal Law Actually Prohibits
The statute is straightforward. It’s unlawful for any person “who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance” to ship, transport, receive, or possess firearms or ammunition. The key word – “is.” Present tense. You don’t need a conviction. You don’t need to be high at the moment. You just need to be someone who uses drugs.
What counts as an “unlawful user”? Federal courts interpret this broadly. Regular marijuana use qualifies. Occasional use can qualify if it’s recent enough. The jury instruction in many cases says the government must prove “the unlawful use has occurred recently enough to indicate that the individual is actively engaged in such conduct.” That could mean days, that could mean weeks.
The ATF Form 4473 – the form you fill out when buying a gun from a licensed dealer – asks directly: “Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?” Right below that question is a warning in bold: “The use or possession of marijuana remains unlawful under Federal law regardless of whether it has been legalized or decriminalized for medicinal or recreational purposes in the state where you reside.”
If you check “No” when the answer is “Yes,” you’ve committed a separate federal crime – making a false statement to a firearms dealer. That’s how they got Hunter Biden in June 2024. He checked “No” on the form when he bought a Colt revolver in 2018, even though he was using crack cocaine at the time. Jury convicted him on all three counts after a week of testimony. He faced up to 25 years combined before his father pardoned him in December 2024.
State Law Doesn’t Protect You
Twenty-four states and Washington D.C. have legalized recreational marijuana as of 2025. Thirty-eight states allow medical marijuana. Kentucky just legalized medical marijuana in January 2025. Doesn’t matter. Federal law controls federal crimes, and gun laws are federal.
The ATF has been clear about this – painfully clear. When Minnesota legalized recreational marijuana, the ATF issued a clarification stating that until cannabis is federally legalized, marijuana users cannot own guns. State legalization creates zero protection against federal prosecution.
Medical marijuana cards are particularly dangerous because they create a paper trail. You’ve told the state government you’re a marijuana user. That card proves you’re an unlawful user under federal law. If you’re involved in a self-defense shooting, if police search your home, if you’re pulled over – authorities can pull your Form 4473, see you answered “No,” check state records, find your medical marijuana card, and charge you with a federal felony.
People think state law protects them. It doesn’t. Your state’s decision to allow medical or recreational use changes nothing about the federal classification, nothing about federal gun laws. Marijuana is Schedule I – defined as having no accepted medical use and high potential for abuse. That’s federal law.
The Penalties Are Real
Violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3) carries up to 10 years in federal prison and fines up to $250,000 under 18 U.S.C. § 924(a)(2). According to U.S. Sentencing Commission data, the average sentence for Section 922(g) offenses in fiscal year 2024 was 71 months – just under six years. And 97.7% of defendants went to prison. Federal judges send nearly everyone to prison.
If you have three prior convictions for violent felonies or serious drug offenses, you’re looking at a 15-year mandatory minimum under the Armed Career Criminal Act. Lying on Form 4473 is a separate charge, carrying up to 10 years. Prosecutors stack these charges – three charges, 30 years potential exposure.
The Fifth Circuit Challenge
On January 6, 2025, the Fifth Circuit issued a decision in United States v. Daniels holding that Section 922(g)(3) is unconstitutional as applied to the defendant. Patrick Daniels was pulled over in Mississippi, officers found marijuana and two loaded firearms. Convicted, sentenced to 46 months.
The Fifth Circuit reversed, holding that Daniels belongs to the “law-abiding” class protected by the Second Amendment. Historical regulations from the 18th and 19th centuries never disarmed substance users – the government couldn’t point to a historical tradition of disarming people who used drugs or alcohol.
Does this mean the law is unconstitutional everywhere? No. The Fifth Circuit covers Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. If you’re prosecuted in other circuits, Daniels means nothing. For defendants outside the Fifth Circuit, it provides an argument – nothing more. The law remains enforceable in 49 states.
What This Means for You
You’re committing a federal felony every day you possess a firearm while you’re an unlawful user of a controlled substance. Every time you bought a gun from a licensed dealer and checked “No” on the drug use question, you committed a separate federal crime.
Will you get caught? Depends. If you’re never arrested, never involved in a shooting, never have police search your home or car – you might never face consequences. But if something happens – if you use that gun in self-defense, if you’re pulled over and officers smell marijuana – one traffic stop turns into a federal case.
If you’re facing charges under Section 922(g)(3), you need a lawyer who handles federal gun cases – who understands the sentencing guidelines, who knows how to argue Second Amendment challenges, who can negotiate with federal prosecutors from a position of knowledge. These cases move fast once charges are filed. Federal prosecutors have conviction rates over 90%.
At Spodek Law Group, we’ve handled federal firearms cases, federal drug cases, cases where clients faced decades in prison for conduct they didn’t think was criminal. We know how federal prosecutors build these cases – many of our attorneys are former federal prosecutors. We know the pressure tactics, we know the guidelines calculations, we know which arguments judges actually listen to.
The answer to “Can drug users legally own guns” is no – and the consequences of getting caught are years in federal prison. If you’re using marijuana in a state where it’s legal and you own firearms, you’re gambling with your freedom. If you’ve already been charged, you’re in a fight that requires experienced federal defense counsel.