Erik Matthew Harris v. United States

18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3) prohibits firearm possession by an “unlawful user of” “any controlled substance.” The statute does not define the phrase “unlawful user” or specify what nexus, if any, the government must show between drug use and firearm possession. Petitioner Erik Harris, a 21-year-old, first-generation college student working part-time for a Christian nonprofit, had no prior arrests or history of violence when he purchased three guns in early 2019. He was later convicted under § 922(g)(3) based solely on his police interview admission to smoking marijuana once every three days. Nothing in the record indicates that Harris was intoxicated when he purchased the firearms or at any time that he carried a firearm. The questions presented are: I. Whether 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3), the federal statute that prohibits possession of firearms by a person who “is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance,” violates the Second Amendment as applied to an individual who sometimes used marijuana but was not intoxicated at the time of the possession. II. Whether 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3)’s prohibition on firearm possession by “an unlawful user” of “any controlled substance” is unconstitutionally vague.