Pro-Gun Champion Sues To Overturn Federal Gun Ban On Those With Old Minor Drug Charges

One of America’s most principled pro-gun champions is going to federal court on behalf of a military veteran who cannot carry a firearm as a private citizen due to an old drug possession charge.

Gun Owners of America (GOA) and Gun Owners Foundation (GOF), report in a statement that  “alongside Craig Philips, an honorably discharged Air Force and Gulf War veteran, have filed a federal lawsuit challenging Pennsylvania’s statutory lifetime denial of Licenses to Carry Firearms (LTCF) for individuals with minor, nonviolent drug convictions.”

“The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, targets 18 Pa.C.S. § 6109(e)(1)(ii). This provision permanently disqualifies anyone with any conviction under Pennsylvania’s Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act (CSDDCA) from obtaining an LTCF, regardless of the nonviolent nature of the offense, the minor penalties involved, or how many decades have passed,” GOA reports.

“Plaintiff Craig Philips served his country honorably in the United States Air Force. More than thirty years ago, in 1994, he was convicted of a minor misdemeanor for possession of a small amount of marijuana. Since then, he has lived a stable, productive, and law-abiding life, and he remains fully eligible to purchase and own firearms under state and federal law. Yet, solely because of this 32-year-old minor misdemeanor, Pennsylvania permanently denies him his constitutional right to bear arms in public,” GOA reports.

“Crucially, the lawsuit highlights the Supreme Court’s recent landmark decision in United States v. Hemani (June 18, 2026) to demonstrate that the Commonwealth’s sweeping carry ban cannot survive constitutional scrutiny,” GOA notes.

“In Hemani, the Supreme Court struck down a drug-related federal firearm prohibition as unconstitutional. The high court noted that the Founders lived in a ‘culture of copious drinking’ and never disarmed regular drinkers unless they were shown to be actively dangerous. The Court warned that giving the government ‘broad power to designate any group as dangerous and thereby disqualify its members from having a gun… would quickly swallow the Second Amendment,’” GOA notes.

“Together with the landmark Bruen framework, the Hemani decision places an insurmountable historical burden on Pennsylvania to justify stripping peaceable, otherwise eligible gun owners of their carry rights over decades-old, nonviolent conduct,” GOA adds.

“The Second Amendment guarantees peaceable citizens the right to bear arms for self-defense, and that right does not carry an expiration date. Pennsylvania’s lifetime ban on minor, non-violent drug possession convictions does not hold up to constitutional scrutiny,” said Dr. Val Finnell, Pennsylvania Director of Gun Owners of America.

“Pennsylvania is treating a peaceable veteran like a second-class citizen over a minor marijuana misdemeanor from more than three decades ago. Craig Philips served this country honorably, obeyed the law for 32 years, and remains eligible to own firearms—yet the Commonwealth still says he can never exercise his right to carry. That is exactly the kind of government abuse the Second Amendment forbids, and GOA will not stand by while bureaucrats permanently strip Americans of their rights over decades-old, nonviolent conduct,” said Erich Pratt, Senior Vice President of Gun Owners of America.

“The Supreme Court has made clear that the government cannot simply label peaceable citizens as ‘dangerous’ and erase their Second Amendment rights. Pennsylvania’s lifetime carry ban is sweeping, automatic, and historically indefensible. Under Bruen and Hemani, the Commonwealth bears the burden of proving this kind of permanent disarmament is consistent with our nation’s historical tradition and it cannot meet that burden,” said John Velleco, Executive Vice President of Gun Owners Foundation.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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