Gun Guy Weighs In on Supreme Court Siding w/ Texan Wanting to Carry

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
To the US. Supreme Court, they just unanimously ruled in favor of a Texas man who had his gun rights stripped because he was using marijuana. And this is a topic we've been talking about with Guy Relford, the gun guy, two-way attorney, licensed firearms instructor for, I feel like a couple of months now. Is he on the hotline here, Allison? Let's go to Guy Relford. Who better to speak to it than Gun Guy? Nobody better to speak to it than Gun Guy.
Guy, tell me exactly what happened, why this is a big deal.

**Guy Relford** (0:33)
Yeah, it is a big deal and great to be with you guys. But Supreme Court ruled today, as a lot of us anticipated, they were going to do. And they found that the federal statute that says that it's illegal to possess a firearm if you're a quote, user of or addicted to any controlled substance, end quote.
That that law is unconstitutional, as applied to a guy who just smoked marijuana, quote, unquote, a few times a week. And they came out and said, you know what, under the test that the Supreme Court's established, and this goes back to the Bruin decision, which I've talked about with you, Nigel, several times, that says that a law has to be consistent with the text, history, and tradition of the Second Amendment in terms of how the government has regulated that over time and what the Second Amendment actually says, that it protects. Otherwise, it's unconstitutional. They looked at the historical analogies of similar kinds of statutes that, for instance, included laws way back in the day, at the time of the founding, that would allow incarceration of, quote, unquote, habitual drunkards. People that were just drunk all the damn time, and they could put them in workhouses.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:02)
Alvin would be on death row.

**Guy Relford** (2:05)
Yeah. Well, yeah. And so they looked at that and said, well, the government said, well, those are kind of similar. And the Supreme Court came out and said, that there's no comparison here at all, because we're not talking about people who are incapacitated to their use of drugs, not talking about people who can't function normally.
The government's position was, if you use marijuana even occasionally, that you were subject to going to prison for up to 15 years if you also possessed a gun. And the Supreme Court came out and said, nope, no way. As to this circumstance, and this guy used marijuana a few times, that law is unconstitutional.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:44)
And so, like the fact that Donald Trump and the administration is changing marijuana or in effect trying to change marijuana from like a Schedule 1 to a Schedule 3, do you think that played any part in to this decision?

**Guy Relford** (2:58)
Well, we know it did because the decision says so. And that's why it's such a good question, Nigel.
And you and I talked about this, I think it was last Friday, where I said, I go, it's going to be interesting that Supreme Court is going to come out and rule on this right after the reclassification of marijuana, at least some marijuana products, from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3, because the government's coming out and saying there are safe uses for this particular drug.
And by the way, the opinion also mentions the fact that back in 2013, the Department of Justice sent out memos to the Assistant US. Attorneys all across the country. It says, in those states where marijuana is legalized, we're not going to enforce the federal drug laws against people who possess marijuana or use marijuana. And they said the government can't very well, on one hand, reclassify marijuana into a category where people can get their prescriptions to use it safely. They can't send a memo out that says we're not even going to prosecute people who use or possess this drug, and then turn around and want to put people in prison for 15 years for possessing a firearm while they use that exact same drug. And it is a powerful opinion written by Justice Gorsuch. And get this, guys, you're not going to believe this part. The decision was nine to nothing.

**SPEAKER_1** (4:17)
Unanimous.

**Guy Relford** (4:18)
It's unanimous. Which is wild.

**SPEAKER_1** (4:20)
Hey, Guy, where can people get a hold of you at if they want more information?

**Guy Relford** (4:26)
Really, through the website, relfordlaw.com. It's relfordlaw.com.

**SPEAKER_1** (4:30)
Guy, thank you for taking the time to call in real quick. Really appreciate it, man. Thank you.

**Guy Relford** (4:34)
Absolutely, guys. You guys have a great show.