As you’re probably aware, more and more states are passing legislation and constitutional reformations that permit recreational and medical cannabis use.
As the number of states adopting cannabis-legalization laws grow; so does the degree of conflict and confusion with federal agencies.
While cannabis may be legal at the state level, marijuana remains federally illegal and is still classified as a Schedule 1 drug. This means it’s categorized the same as amphetamines, cocaine, and even heroin, and this indirectly impacts firearm owner hopefuls.
For the sake of argument, let’s say you reside in a cannabis-legal state. Nowadays, this is a country-majority considering that medical cannabis is currently legal in 33 states. Of these, ten are recreational states.
Now, let’s say you want to enjoy modern-day, legalized cannabis. After all, you’ve been waiting since childhood for this moment and may now want to enjoy the recreational or medical benefits cannabis provides. But, what happens if you’re using cannabis and then choose to purchase a firearm?
In order to purchase a gun, you must first complete a Form 4473. This is a federal background check that is issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).
In this form, question “11e” asks applicants to confirm they aren’t an “unlawful user of, or addicted to, cannabis or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance.”
If this question isn’t that clear to you, in 2017, the ATF added a more finely-detailed clarification, which states:
“The use or possession of cannabis remains unlawful under Federal law regardless of whether it has been legalized or decriminalized for medicinal or recreational purposes in the state where you reside.”
Federal Government – Cannabis and Firearm Ownership
Because cannabis remains unlawful in the eyes of federal authorities, drug use and firearm ownership, even for gun owners in cannabis-legal states, remain mutually exclusive to one another.
One mistake that many firearm applicants make is choosing to ignore the federal position on cannabis. Lying on Form 4473 and confirming you don’t use cannabis when you actually do can result in a five-year federal prison sentence.
Also, due to the ever-growing public support for background checks (universally), the likelihood of a firearm buyer being incriminated for lying on this form is increasing.
While the odds are in the favor of the purchaser of not getting caught, the possibility still exists and is taken rather seriously. Recently, there were a couple of men located in Maine that were jailed for lying on Form 4473.
One of these applicants was Richard Quattrone, a 50-year-old firearm-owning hopeful from Augusta, ME. In March of this year, he was sentenced to eight months in a federal prison. According to the ATF, Mr. Quattrone, a cannabis consumer, lied on Form 4473 when questioned about his cannabis use.
The other jailed applicant, 33-year-old Donald Henderson, plead guilty to the same charge. He was also convicted of charges relating to the purchase of firearms on behalf of other people.
States have NOT Legislated Cannabis Users to Forfeit Gun Ownership
Firearm owners should proceed with caution when encouraging or supporting legalization.
Most states that legalize cannabis require residents to forfeit their ownership of their firearms if purchased recreationally or if prescribed.
Many people believe that cannabis legalization is a back-door approach for the government to get firearm owners to voluntarily forfeit their gun rights.
There have been multiple ads on Facebook campaigning about how the government is using the cannabis revolution to take away the firearms rights of citizens. These ads were all removed from Facebook, and by Facebook.
They claimed it was to combat fake news (a term we now here in the news daily).
Prior to the legalization of cannabis, a federal law was passed that does not prohibit users of controlled substances (this includes marijuana) from owning firearms. To this day, we haven’t seen any legalized states enact a law banning cannabis consumers from ownership.
Unfortunately, fake news is now more prevalent than ever, and this holds especially true in the cannabis and firearm-ownership discussion.
A recent post on Facebook claimed that nearly all legalized states legislate that cannabis consumers lose firearm ownership rights.
If you do your research, you’ll learn such information is blatantly FALSE. While the federal law prohibits cannabis users from owning a gun, states have not yet illegalized firearm ownership.
There are many state efforts and provisions to protect the gun rights for recreational and medical cannabis users.
One example of this is Oklahoma, whose governor signed and enacted a bill on April 15th. This historical bill prevents local agencies from denying gun rights to individuals using medical marijuana.
Earlier on in the year, a U.S. Representative, Alex Mooney, a West Virginia Native and Republican, signed a bill that will address the federal law so medical marijuana consumers won’t become disqualified from owning a gun simply because they use cannabis for medical applications.
However, no action, as of the time of this writing, has been taken on this bill.
In most cities, local law enforcement enforces the federal cannabis prohibition. But helping to protect the identity of consumers is New Hampshire. Their Department of Health and Human Resources is forbidden (by their state law) from sharing customer information from their patient registry with federal authorities and agencies.
But in Hawaii, the state allows local authorities to access the medical-patient and gun-ownership registry. E
Exploring privacy laws in your state and learning what information is shared with authorities is essential for both recreational and medical cannabis users purchasing from a dispensary, especially for those considering the purchase of a firearm.
