09-1138 U.S. v. Yancey

Listen to this article

Firearms
Possession of firearm by drug user; constitutionality

Congress acted within constitutional bounds by prohibiting illegal drug users from firearm possession because it is substantially related to the important governmental interest in preventing violent crime.

“Ample academic research confirms the connection between drug use and violent crime. For example, nearly four times as many adults arrested for serious crimes had used an illegal drug in the previous year than had not. See OFFICE OF APPLIED STUDIES, SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES ADMINISTRATION, ILLICIT DRUG USE AMONG PERSONS ARRESTED FOR SERIOUS CRIMES, NSDUH REPORT (2005), available at http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/2k5/arrests/arrests.pdf. Other academic research demonstrates a strong connection between drug use and violence. See, e.g., Carrie B. Oser, et al., The Drugs-Violence Nexus Among Rural Felony Probationers, 24 J. INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE 1285, 1298-99 (2009) (noting connection between illegal stimulant use and violence as well as economically motivated violence by drug addicts); BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS, U.S. DEP’T OF JUSTICE, DRUG USE AND DEPENDENCE, STATE AND FEDERAL PRISONERS, 2004, at 7 (2007), available at http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/dudsfp04.pdf (noting that nearly half of violent offenders in state prisons were dependent on drugs); H. Virginia McCoy, et al., Perpetrators, Victims, and Observers of Violence: Chronic and Non-Chronic Drug Users, 16 J. INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE 890, 906 (2001) (documenting notable connection between chronic drug abusers and violence); Roger H. Peters, et al., Prevalence of DSM-IV Substance Abuse and Dependence Disorders Among Prison Inmates, 24 AM. J. DRUG ALCOHOL ABUSE 573, 583 (1998) (reporting that three-quarters of state inmates have a history of substance abuse); Lana Harrison & Joseph Gfroerer, The Intersection of Drug Use and Criminal Behavior: Results from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, 38 CRIME & DELINQUENCY 422, 438 (1992) (reporting that drug abusers are more likely to engage in both property and violent crimes). These studies amply demonstrate the connection between chronic drug abuse and violent crime, and illuminate the nexus between Congress’s attempt to keep firearms away from habitual drug abusers and its goal of reducing violent crime.”

Affirmed.

09-1138 U.S. v. Yancey

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, Crabb, J., Per Curiam.

Full Text