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1 [1] (March 27, 2026)

handle is hein.crs/goveufi0001 and id is 1 raw text is: * Congressional Research Service Informing the legislative debate since 1914 March 27, 2026 Guns and Drugs: A Brief History of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3) Federal law, 18 U. SC. 922(g (3) prohibits possession, use, reception, exportation, or sale of a firearm by anyone who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). In United States vu Hemani, the Supreme Court may decide whether 18 U.S.C. 922(g(3), as applied to the defendant, violates the Second Amendment. This In Focus sketches legislative developments related to 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3). It concludes by identifying considerations for Congress. Historcal Federa Regulation of Drugs: Se ected Examp es For more than a century, Congress has regulated drugs, recognizing their potential for abuse. For example, in 1914, Congress enacted the Harrison Narcotics Act, Pub. L. 63-223, requiring every person who produces, imports, manufactures, compounds, deals in, dispenses, sells, distributes, or gives away opium or certain other narcotics to register with collectors of internal revenue, pay a special tax, and keep certain records. In 1951, Congress passed the Durham-Humphrey Amendment, Pub. L. 82-215, which mdated a prescription for the sale of a drug that is habit-forming or that is not safe for use except under the supervision of a licensed practitioner. In the Drug Abuse Control Amendments of 1965, Pub. L. 89-74, Congress, among other things, resticted the manufacture, compounding, and processing of depressant and stimulant drugs. In 1970, Congress and President Nixon enacted the CSA, Title II of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act, Pub. L. 91-513, which athoried the Attorney General to categorize certain drugs across five schedules based on their potential for abuse, potential for physical or psychological dependence, and accepted medical use. Early Categorical Firearms Prohibitions Though the categories have shifted over time, for decades Congress has made it unlawful for certain classes of individuals to receive or possess firearms. For example, in the Federal Firearms Act of 1938 (FFA), Pub. L. 75-785 (which is distinct from the National Firearms Act of 1934), Congress responded to the rise in organized crime by, in relevant part, prohibiting two categories of individuals from receiving a firearm (in interstate or foreign commerce): any person (1) convicted of a crime of violence or (2) who is a 'fugitive frm justce, that is, a person who has fled to avoid prosecution for a crime of violence or to avoid giving testimony in any criminal proceeding. In the 1960s, Congress and the executive branch became increasingly concerned about drugs and associated gang violence, with Congress debating and enacting pertinent laws and the executive convening commissions and calling for legislative action. For example, in the Drug Abuse Control Amendments of 1965, Congress found and declared that the use of depressant and stimulant drugs imperils public safety on the highways. The statute did not address drugs in the context of firearms. A 1967 report from the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice further addressed drugs in relation to crime. The Commission stated that, Drug addicts, to support their habits, were stealing millions of dollars' worth of property every year and contributing to the public's fear of robbery and burglary. The Commission similarly observed that heroin addicts generally commit cimes of the fund-raising variety. With respect to firearms, the Commission recognized that practically anyone-the convicted criminal, the mental incompetent, or the habitual drunkard-can purchase firearms in states with lenient laws. The Commission posited therefore that dangerous or potentially dangerous persons should be prohibited from purchasing firearms, recommending specifically that states should prohibit specific classes of persons, such as habitual drunkards, drug addicts, mental incompetents, persons with a history of mental disturbance, and persons convicted of certain offenses, from possessing firearms. In 1967, the House Judiciary Committee also held a number of hearings on crime control, which touched upon drug addicts' access to firearms. The Chair reflected the sentiment of the Committee when he stated, [O]ur goal is primarily the reduction of crime by making it much more difficult for those who are not skillful in the use of firearms or unable to use firearms, imbeciles, drunkards and drug addicts and those kinds of people who should not have easy access to guns. Committee members and those giving testimony referred primarily and repeatedly, consistent with the Chair's remarks, to and - as subjects of firearm restrictions. These deliberative efforts culminated in the passage of the Omnibus Crime Contrl and Safer Strets Act of 1968 (OCCSSA), Pub. L. 90-351. The omnibus statute, signed into law on June 19, 1968, repealed the FFA and in its place prohibited the receipt of firearms (in interstate or foreign commerce) by individuals, including (1) anyone under indictment for a felony, (2) anyone convicted of a felony, or (3) a fugitive from justice. In what the Supreme Court later chairacterized as a provision that was hastily passed, with little discussion, no hearings and no report, the OCCSSA also made it unlawful, in 18 U.S.C. § 922(h), for anyone in five categories to possess a firearm (in commerce or affecting commerce): (1) felons, (2) veterans who are other than honorably discharged, (3) mental incompetents, (4) aliens who are illegally in the country,