Student presentation on how federal gun prohibition law is “evolving” amid modern marijuana reform

Marijuana law has been in flux for the past decade and a half in America. With states legalizing recreational and medicinal use in various capacities, applying federal marijuana law has been confounding. With little enforcement federally and many urging federal legalization, marijuana law has become a hot topic in politics. After Biden’s 2022 decision to review marijuana scheduling, President Trump, in late 2025, took things a step further by issuing an executive order to expedite rescheduling to Schedule III. This would have vast repercussions for severity of criminal punishments, accessibility of research and the ability to develop marijuana medicine. Under current law, it is illegal for someone who has used marijuana to own or use a gun. Due to the divide between what the law says and the way it is being enforced and likely also backlash pursuant to the Hemani case, the ATF has issued an interim final rule removing the examples and requiring a pattern to be established. While the question of whether such a blanket ban is constitutional is at the Supreme Court, this paper will consider the background of the Gun Control Act, Hemani and impacts of rescheduling and the ATF interim rule.

While the ATF interim rule change will lessen the burden on single time users, the Gun Control Act will still affect medical marijuana users despite their state laws. Since the Supreme Court has not made its ruling in Hemani and likely won’t for several months, many are concerned with the future of the Gun Control Act and whether Trump’s rescheduling executive order will be a saving grace. First, notably the executive order itself did not actually change marijuana’s schedule, nor can President Trump unilaterally reschedule marijuana. Congress made the current drug schedule and Trump ordered his attorney general to expedite the rescheduling process, but it is possible court challenges or even Congress could impede rescheduling. Second, even if marijuana is rescheduled to Schedule III, it remains a controlled substance and would still technically fall within the Gun Control Act. The Department of Justice urges the Supreme Court to rule that the Gun Control Act is constitutional and applies to marijuana whether or not it is rescheduled. Just because the DOJ would like the Supreme Court to rule a certain way does not make it so. As such the future of marijuana applicability in the Gun Control Act is ambiguous. The most clear-cut way for marijuana to not fall within the gun prohibition is for federal legalization. Since federal legalization seems a long way a way still, we will wait for the Supreme Court’s Hemani ruling.