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Tuesday, March 3, 2026
29 minutes ago
War
World

U.S. Consulate in Dubai Hit by Iranian Drone.

PULSE POINTS

❓WHAT HAPPENED: Reports suggest the U.S. consulate in Dubai may have been struck by an Iranian drone.

👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Iran, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

📍WHEN & WHERE: Videos of the attack were posted on social media on March 3, from Dubai.

🎯IMPACT: The attack follows a pattern of Iranian strikes against Israeli, U.S., and U.S.-aligned targets since the start of the “Operation Epic Fury.”

IN FULL

The U.S. Consulate in Dubai’s Al Seef district has been struck amid the rapidly escalating regional conflict between Iran, the United States, U.S.-aligned Middle Eastern states, and Israel. Videos shared online show plumes of smoke rising near the diplomatic compound, and residents described hearing explosions.

The reports come as Iran expands a campaign of ballistic missile and drone attacks across the Gulf following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran that have killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and other top officials. Tehran has targeted U.S. diplomatic and military facilities in several countries, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, in response, prompting evacuations and heightened security measures.

The U.S. Department of State on Monday urged American citizens across much of the Middle East to depart immediately, citing serious security risks and the potential for further escalation. Advisories cover more than a dozen countries, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, and Bahrain.

Iran has also targeted oil infrastructure. In Saudi Arabia, authorities temporarily shut down operations at the Ras Tanura oil refinery after drone strikes caused fires, raising concerns about the war’s impact on global energy markets. Airspace disruptions and commercial flight suspensions have left some travelers stranded as governments assess ongoing threats.

President Donald J. Trump has declined to rule out the possibility of deploying U.S. ground forces if the conflict warrants it.

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1 hour ago
William Upton
War
World

Ex-Iran Prez Ahmadinejad May Have Survived U.S.-Israeli Decapitation Strikes.

PULSE POINTS

❓WHAT HAPPENED: Former Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, may have survived the joint-U.S.-Israeli decapitation strikes targeting Iran’s political and military leadership this past weekend.

👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranian military and political leaders, Patrick Bet-David, Israel, and the United States.

📍WHEN & WHERE: Reports of Ahmadinejad’s possible survival surfaced on Monday and Tuesday.

💬KEY QUOTE: “Their team is telling us, this is not true, that he is not killed, he is alive. They [Israel] hit down the street from where he was at, and they didn’t kill him.” — Patrick Bet-David

🎯IMPACT: Several claims of his survival emerged on Monday and Tuesday, though no conclusive evidence that Ahmadinejad is alive has been presented.

IN FULL

Former Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, may have survived the joint-U.S.-Israeli decapitation strikes targeting Iran’s political and military leadership this past weekend. Several claims of his survival emerged on Monday and Tuesday, though no conclusive evidence that Ahmadinejad is alive has been presented.

On Monday, podcaster and Iranian-American businessman Patrick Bet-David contradicted claims made by the New York Post that Ahmadinejad had been killed in an Israeli airstrike. According to Bet-David, he had been attempting to record a podcast episode with Ahmadinejad—best known for his hardline views against the U.S. and Israel as well as his social commentary about American sports—for at least a year, with frequent communication with the former Iranian president’s staff.

“I got an update from his team, I’m telling you what his team told me,” Bet-David said, revealing, “Their team is telling us, this is not true, that he is not killed, he is alive. They [Israel] hit down the street from where he was at, and they didn’t kill him.”


This claim was repeated by unnamed sources to Iran International on Tuesday, insisting that Ahmadinejad was in fact alive and not dead. Ahmadinejad, who has largely been absent from the Iranian political scene for over a decade, is—or was—a member of the Principlists faction. This faction is heavily aligned with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and proponents of building nuclear weapons.

A former mayor of Tehran and engineer, Ahmadinejad was infamous during his tenure as Iran’s president for leading “Death to America” chants. However, his post-political career saw the former president commenting on Western sports, including lamenting that former National Football League (NFL) quarterback Colin Kaepernick failed to make a team roster and cheering on the University of Michigan football team. “With a hard work ethic, Inshallah the U of M will return to its glory days,” Ahmadinejad wrote in an October 2018 post on X (formerly Twitter). In 2024, Michigan would win the College Football National Championship.

Image by Hamed Malekpour.

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2 hours ago
News
Religion

DID YOU KNOW: Iran’s Ayatollahs Are The Spiritual Heads of Mamdani’s Sect of Islam?

PULSE POINTS

❓WHAT HAPPENED: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani identifies as a follower of Twelver Shia Islam, the same sect as Iran’s ruling ayatollahs.

👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the Iranian regime, and Raheem Kassam, Editor-in-Chief of The National Pulse.

💬KEY QUOTE: Twelver Muslims “believe that to this day there is a 1,200-year-old living prophet on Earth who is in hiding and is going to come out at some point soon, and proselytize Islam the world over,” Kassam noted last year.

🎯IMPACT: The media has been criticized for ignoring Mamdani’s religious beliefs and their implications.

IN FULL

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) is a follower of the Twelver sect of Shia Islam. This sect counts Iran’s now-deceased Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Khamenei, and the country’s surviving ayatollahs as spiritual leaders, owed religious taxes like khums and zakat by ordinary Twelvers.

Iqbal Akhtar, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Florida International University, has noted: “The Mamdani family… is part of the Twelver community… whose Twelfth Imam is believed to be hidden from the world and only emerges in times of crisis. Twelvers believe he will help usher in an age of peace during end times.”

Though this Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, is said to have disappeared into hiding in 874 AD, the Ayatollahs of Iran have taken up the mantle of leadership for the Twelver community.

Robert Spencer, head of the JihadWatch group, has described the sect as the official religion of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Mamdani has described the strikes against Iran as “a catastrophic escalation in an illegal war of aggression.”

Per the Iran International website, “New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s aunt was a supporter of Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic,” though his father appears to have been less keen.

Tehran University Professor Foad Izadi told an audience in November 2025: “I met Mr. Mamdani’s father twenty years ago at a conference in New York. I was already familiar with his books and his belief in Twelver Shiism. When he realized we were Iranian and religious, he said, ‘I have a sister who always criticizes me for two things: first, that I don’t say my prayers properly; second, that I don’t show the devotion to Khomeini that I’m supposed to.'”

The reason he is “supposed to” is that Khomeini effectively declared himself the spiritual leader of the group upon the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979.

 

Raheem Kassam, Editor-in-Chief of The National Pulse, explained on former White House Chief Strategist Stephen K. Bannon’s WarRoom show last June 2025 that Twelver Muslims like Mamdani and Khamenei “believe that to this day there is a 1,200-year-old living prophet on Earth who is in hiding and is going to come out at some point soon, and proselytize Islam the world over.”

Kassam has accused the corporate media of completely ignoring the relevance of Mamdani’s extremist beliefs, which are even more relevant now in like of the U.S. being at war with the mullahs, saying “I’ve yet to hear any reporters on the campaign trail in New York put these questions to him and say, ‘Hey… do you really believe in this stuff?’”

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2 hours ago
News

KASSAM in New York Times: ‘Trump Loves Finishing the Job His Predecessors Couldn’t Even Start.’

PULSE POINTS

❓WHAT HAPPENED: President Donald J. Trump authorized military action against Iran over the weekend, with Raheem Kassam, Editor-in-Chief of The National Pulse, offering his analysis of the decision on Monday.

👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: President Trump, Raheem Kassam, and The New York Times.

📍WHEN & WHERE: The strikes on Iran began on Saturday, with the conflict spanning the wider region.

💬KEY QUOTE: “He loves the idea of finishing the job that his predecessors couldn’t even start,” Kassam said of Trump.

🎯IMPACT: The Iran war could heighten tensions within the MAGA movement or boost the President’s standing if it is concluded swiftly and successfully, although Kassam warns it could prove to be an unhelpful distraction from the administration’s domestic agenda.

IN FULL

Raheem Kassam, Editor-in-Chief of The National Pulse, has told The New York Times that President Donald J. Trump’s strikes on Iran reflect the fact that “He loves the idea of finishing the job that his predecessors couldn’t even start,” referring to Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and other recent presidents’ failure to tackle Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs directly.

“It’s not something I would have done, but it is definitely something Trump would have done,” Kassam said, noting that the President’s supporters appear to trust him to finish the job in Iran cleanly with minimal U.S. casualties more than they trusted previous leaders. He warned, however, that “Operation Epic Fury” may become a problem for the administration if it becomes a distraction from domestic priorities.

Americans, Kassam explained, are “just starting to feel better about the economy” as the 2026 midterms loom, “because they spent too much time on Elon Musk’s failed DOGE project.”

Kassam noted that transformative government cuts had not been achieved by the SpaceX and Tesla tech mogul, adding. “I agree with the critics that it is a big problem.”

Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was declared officially over by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in November, with Musk himself having left and started a vicious spat with President Trump months prior. While DOGE claimed it had achieved $214 billion in savings, independent analyses found that DOGE had overstated its savings by as much as 97 percent in some cases.

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4 hours ago
News
War

State Dept Tells Americans to Flee Middle East as Iran War Spreads.

PULSE POINTS

❓WHAT HAPPENED: The U.S. State Department has urged American citizens to leave most of the Middle East as the Iran war intensifies and fighting spreads across the region.

👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: U.S. nationals in the Middle East, the U.S. State Department, Iran, Israel, and U.S.-aligned Middle Eastern nations.

📍WHEN & WHERE: The advisory was issued on Monday, covering countries including Israel, Lebanon, and Egypt.

💬KEY QUOTE: “Depart now via commercial means.” – The State Department.

🎯IMPACT: Hundreds of thousands of Americans are potentially stranded as flights are canceled, with embassies offering limited assistance.

IN FULL

The U.S. State Department has issued an urgent advisory urging Americans to leave much of the Middle East immediately due to “serious safety risks” as the U.S.-Israeli confrontation with Iran intensifies. The alert covers Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Gaza, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Yemen. U.S. citizens were told to “use commercial flights to leave,” though many routes have been canceled or suspended amid the escalating violence.

The warning follows joint U.S. and Israeli strikes inside Iran, which have triggered retaliatory missile and drone attacks targeting U.S.-allied nations across the region. Iran has struck targets as far afield as the British Sovereign Base Area of Akrotiri in Cyprus.

The U.S. embassy in Jerusalem said it is “not currently able to assist American citizens in departing Israel,” while Israeli authorities have begun running shuttles to the Taba Border Crossing with Egypt to facilitate departures. With regional airspace closures and mounting security concerns, thousands of travelers and expatriates face limited evacuation options.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has described the military campaign as targeted and decisive, insisting it will not become a prolonged conflict. He characterized the operation as focused on dismantling Iran’s missile systems and strategic capabilities rather than engaging in an open-ended war.

Meanwhile, President Donald J. Trump has declined to rule out deploying U.S. ground forces if necessary, stating, “I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground.”

The conflict has also affected global energy markets. Saudi Arabia was forced to shut down a major oil refinery after a reported Iranian drone strike, raising concerns about supply disruptions and further regional instability.

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4 hours ago
Crime
Immigration

What We Know About Austin Mass Shooter Ndiaga Diagne.

PULSE POINTS

❓WHAT HAPPENED: Authorities are investigating a mass shooting at Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden in Austin, Texas, which left three people dead and more than a dozen injured.

👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: The gunman, identified as 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne, was shot and killed by police. Victims include Savitha Shan, Ryder Harrington, and Jorge Pedersen.

📍WHEN & WHERE: The shooting occurred early Sunday at a crowded bar in Austin’s busy nightlife district.

💬KEY QUOTE: “Any declarations on what led to that motive would be premature, right? We want to make sure we have our facts 100 percent correct.” – Alex Doran, FBI Special Agent

🎯IMPACT: Investigators are treating the incident as a potential act of terrorism.

IN FULL

Law enforcement has released new information about the perpetrator of Sunday’s mass shooting at Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden in Austin, Texas. Ndiaga Diagne, a 53-year-old naturalized immigrant originally from Senegal, has been officially confirmed as the gunman. Notably, while law enforcement still has not stated that the shooting was an act of terrorism, photos of Diagne’s corpse that have circulated on social media reveal he was wearing a “Property of Allah” hooded sweatshirt and an Iranian flag t-shirt underneath.

The attack left three people dead—Savitha Shan, 21, Ryder Harrington, 19, and Jorge Pedersen, 30—and injured over a dozen others. Meanwhile, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis confirmed that Diagne legally acquired the firearms used in the attack in San Antonio several years ago.

Authorities also acknowledged they are now investigating the shooting as a possible act of terrorism, but Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent Alex Doran claims that it is too early to determine a motive. “Any declarations on what led to that motive would be premature, right? We want to make sure we have our facts 100 percent correct,” he stated.

After Diagne opened fire early Sunday morning, officers responded to reports of the shooting in just 57 seconds, confronting the gunman, who was armed with both a handgun and a rifle. Law enforcement engaged and killed Diagne at the scene.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has confirmed that Diagne entered the United States on March 13, 2002, on a B-2 tourist visa. He became a lawful permanent resident in 2006 after marrying an American citizen and was naturalized in April of 2013.

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5 hours ago
Immigration
Lawfare

Attorneys for Illegal Immigrants Have Flooded Federal Courts With Over 24,000 Lawsuits.

PULSE POINTS

❓WHAT HAPPENED: Immigration attorneys have increasingly turned to federal courts to challenge detention policies, flooding the system with 24,400 habeas claims.

👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Attorneys such as Dan Gividen and Jeremy McKinney, federal judges, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and illegal immigrants detained across the United States.

📍WHEN & WHERE: Ongoing since January 2025, with cases filed in federal courts across the country.

💬KEY QUOTE: “The only way that the overwhelming majority of people that ICE is detaining right now is going to get out is through the habeas system.” – Dan Gividen

🎯IMPACT: Some federal judges have issued rulings rejecting the government’s interpretation of immigration law and granting the habeas claims, with hundreds of detainees released or granted bond hearings.

IN FULL

Immigration attorneys are increasingly turning to federal courts to challenge the detention of illegal immigrants, using habeas claims in an effort to force the release of illegal immigrants en masse. The U.S. Constitution provides the writ of habeas as a means of preventing the federal government from detaining Americans without justification, but the mechanism has increasingly been used by immigration attorneys to force bond hearings for illegal immigrant detainees.

“The only way that the overwhelming majority of people that ICE is detaining right now is going to get out is through the habeas system,” Dan Gividen, a former deputy chief counsel for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who now represents illegal immigrants in federal court, stated in a recent interview. The number of habeas filings has risen to more than 24,400 since January 2025. Notably, the mass habeas filings have jammed up both the deportation process and the federal judiciary’s ability to address other non-immigration cases.

“We’re suing the federal government weekly,” Jeremy McKinney, former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said, adding, “We have to kick the door down.”

The National Pulse reported in May 2025 that the Trump White House was considering moves to suspend habeas corpus for illegal immigrants—effectively ending the writ of habeas mechanism currently being utilized by immigration attorneys. “The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion. That’s an option we’re actively looking at,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller said at the time, adding, “A lot of it depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not.”

Still, the habeas filings have been complicated in some jurisdictions, especially in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, where the appellate court ruled that “unadmitted aliens apprehended anywhere in the United States are ineligible for release on bond, regardless of how long they have resided inside the United States.” This ruling has not stopped lower court judges from attempting workarounds.

Two federal district court judges in Texas—so far—believe they have identified a loophole in the appellate court ruling that allows lower courts to continue issuing bond releases for illegal immigrants based on constitutional grounds. District Court Judges Kathleen Cardone—a Bush appointee—and David Briones—a Clinton appointee—both contend in rulings made earlier this week that the Fifth Circuit ruling “has no bearing on this Court’s determination of whether [the petitioner] is being detained in violation of his constitutional right to procedural due process.”

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6 hours ago
William Upton
War

Pro-Terror Grifter Hasan Piker Tells Followers, ‘Just Make F**king Suicide Drones.’

PULSE POINTS

❓WHAT HAPPENED: Far-left social media personality Hasan Piker, who has advocated for political violence and made veiled threats in the past, appears to be encouraging his millions of followers to build suicide drones.

👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Hasan Piker and his millions of social media followers.

📍WHEN & WHERE: The comments were made during a livestream of ongoing Iranian attacks against Israel, U.S. military bases, and Arab Gulf States.

💬KEY QUOTE: “Just make f**king drones. You can purchase them from, you know, you can purchase them in the online marketplace. Like, China literally sells like explosive ordnance delivery mechanisms that you can put to a DJI drone that you can purchase, like, at virtually no significant cost in comparison to, like, sophisticated equipment that you need to put together.” — Hasan Piker

🎯IMPACT: Piker has made numerous violent threats in the past, including appearing to encourage his followers to shoot U.S. Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Rick Scott (R-FL) and saying “America deserved 9/11.” Recently, he appeared to electrocute his dog on a livestream.

IN FULL

Far-left social media personality Hasan Piker, who has advocated for political violence and made veiled threats in the past, appears to be encouraging his millions of followers to build suicide drones. While live-streaming Iranian attacks against Israel and the Arab Gulf States, the Turkish-American began discussing the declining need for suicide bombing as drone technology has advanced, specifically referencing devices like Iran‘s HESA Shahed 136 kamikaze attack drone.

“Again, that’s a Shahed drone, that’s crazy,” Piker excitedly says as an Iranian kamikaze drone slams into a target in a video. “Bro, you really actually don’t need, like—like I was thinking about this with, like, the Afghanistan, the Taliban-Pakistan fight that was taking place. And I was really thinking about this, you really don’t need suicide bombing anymore.”

“You really don’t need that anymore in drone warfare,” Piker continued, before telling those viewing his livestream: “Just make fucking drones. You can purchase them from, you know, you can purchase them in the online marketplace. Like, China literally sells like explosive ordnance delivery mechanisms that you can put to a DJI drone that you can purchase, like, at virtually no significant cost in comparison to, like, sophisticated equipment that you need to put together.”

“This is functionally, what you could get away with if you, if you facilitated, like, a somewhat difficult to pull off suicide bombing strike,” Piker added, in reference to the Shahed strike.


The National Pulse reported in 2024 on Piker appearing to encourage his social media followers to shoot Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR). In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Piker, a.k.a. ‘HasanAbi,’ responded to calls by Cotton for the average American to stand up to pro-Hamas demonstrators who block bridges and road traffic with an image of an improvised gun, which at least 1.6 million people viewed.

In March of 2025, Piker was briefly banned from Twitch after suggesting that Republican Florida Senator Rick Scott should be “killed.” The incident occurred during a stream where Piker reacted to a clip featuring House Speaker Mike Johnson discussing Medicaid fraud with CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins. Piker declared, “If you cared about Medicare fraud or Medicaid fraud, you would kill Rick Scott, OK?”

Last October, Piker was accused of electrocuting his dog on a live stream.

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6 hours ago
Crime
UK

Stabbing Near UK Elementary School and Church in Muslim-Majority Area.

PULSE POINTS

❓WHAT HAPPENED: Multiple people are reported injured following a stabbing outside a primary (elementary) school and church in a Muslim-majority area of Birmingham, England.

👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: A 32-year-old man has been arrested, with a woman also injured and eyewitnesses reporting a passer-by intervened.

📍WHEN & WHERE: The attack occurred on Bridge Road in the Pakistani-Muslim majority Alum Rock area of Birmingham on March 3, around 12:06 PM.

💬KEY QUOTE: “We understand how deeply distressing and concerning this incident is and we will have extra officers in the area to offer reassurance to the community,” said Detective Superintendent James Munro.

🎯IMPACT: The incident has left people shaken, with heightened police presence and appeals for information.

IN FULL

Authorities and medical teams arrived at the scene of a knife attack on Bridge Road in the Alum Rock neighborhood of Birmingham, England, on Tuesday morning. The attack occurred close to a primary (elementary) school and a church in the area, where Pakistani Muslims are the majority and white people are less than ten percent of the population and occasionally targeted with threatening graffiti. Police have detained a 32-year-old male suspect.

Eyewitness accounts suggest that a bystander tried to stop the assault by driving a vehicle into the perpetrator while he “repeatedly stabbed at his victim.” One injured person was observed on the ground in the road while police administered CPR.

After the assault, the alleged attacker escaped into a nearby apartment building. Some observers reported hearing sounds of gunfire coming from inside the structure, with footage provided to British media showing police officers with firearms moving into the location.

The West Midlands Police force stated: “We’ve arrested a man after another man was stabbed in Alum Rock this afternoon. Firearms officers were deployed to the incident as part of our response.”

Detective Superintendent James Munro added “We believe this to be a contained incident with a man in custody. We are reviewing CCTV footage and speaking to a number of people in the area.”

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21 hours ago
2A
SCOTUS

SCOTUS Skeptical of Law Disarming Habitual Drug Users.

PULSE POINTS

❓WHAT HAPPENED: The Trump administration urged the Supreme Court to uphold a law denying gun rights to habitual drug users, including marijuana users, but faced skepticism from justices.

👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: The Trump administration, the Supreme Court, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and others.

📍WHEN & WHERE: The case was argued before the Supreme Court on Monday in Washington, D.C.

💬KEY QUOTE: The prosecution “falls well within Congress’ authority to temporarily disarm categories of dangerous persons—here, habitual drug users,” argued Solicitor General D. John Sauer

🎯IMPACT: The case could affect millions of Americans who own firearms and use marijuana or other controlled substances, potentially expanding or restricting the reach of criminal law.

IN FULL

On Monday, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to uphold a provision of the Gun Control Act of 1968 that bars firearm possession by “habitual users” of controlled substances, including marijuana. The case highlights tension between federal drug laws and the Second Amendment, and several justices appeared doubtful during oral arguments.

Deputy Solicitor General Sarah Harris argued that Congress determined it is dangerous to combine firearms and controlled substances and urged the Court to sustain the statute. Attorney Erin Murphy countered that gun owners were not clearly warned that occasional marijuana use could make them criminals under federal law.

The case involves Ali Hemani, who admitted to using marijuana regularly. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents found a Glock pistol and marijuana during a search of his home. A federal district court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit dismissed the gun charge, citing his Second Amendment rights and noting he was not under the influence at the time.

Notably, Hemani was also suspected of having family ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an Iranian terrorist organization.

The Justice Department says roughly 300 people annually face charges under the provision, including Hunter Biden, who was convicted of lying about his drug abuse on a firearm purchase form. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued the restriction aligns with historical precedents, such as laws disarming “habitual drunkards,” and should similarly apply to habitual drug users.

The prosecution “falls well within Congress’s authority to temporarily disarm categories of dangerous persons—here, habitual drug users,” Sauer said.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), representing Hemani, warned the government’s reading could criminalize millions. “Like tens of millions of Americans, Ali Hemani owned a handgun for self-defense, keeping it safely secured at home. Like many of those same Americans, he also consumed marijuana a few days a week,” the group wrote, arguing those facts alone should not trigger federal penalties.

The dispute comes as federal marijuana policy shifts. In 2024, the Justice Department moved to reclassify marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act, recognizing accepted medical uses and lower abuse potential. Then, in 2025, President Trump directed the DOJ to expedite that process and expand medical marijuana and CBD research.

Image by Billy Wilson.

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