Paris, November 13, 2015: 130 dead, 368 wounded. San Bernadino, California, December 2, 2015, 14 people dead and 22 seriously injured. And now the latest: June 12, 2016, 49 people killed and 53 people wounded at Orlando nightclub Pulse in the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in U.S. history. Whether an event is labeled as a terrorist attack, a violent hate crime or a school shooting by a deranged and troubled youth (such as the latest just last month at UCLA), there is no denying the travesty of gun-related violence which is escalating every year.
It’s not a happy topic to talk about as we wrap up celebrations across the country for Independence Day, a time when we are supposed to be reinforcing our pride in living in “the land of the free.” However, acts of gun violence and the issues surrounding gun control and regulation have become a routine, and frustrating element of our political landscape.
Second Amendment rights is a topic that affects every American citizen─ especially those with valid medical marijuana cards in states where it is legal to do so.
Why? Because the current gun control climate in this country puts medical cannabis users right smack dab in the middle of the debate. And, unfortunately, it also puts them between a proverbial rock and a hard place.
Let’s take a look at some statistics in order to see the big picture:
As of 2010, approximately 70 to 80 million Americans owned a handgun, mostly for protection of their households against crime. At the same time, roughly 1.25 million individuals (2016 statistics) in the United States use cannabis therapy for medical conditions in one of the 23 states (and the District of Columbia) where it is legal to do so.
The problem is this: according to federal law, if you possess a medical cannabis card (or use it recreationally in one of the four states where it is legal to do so), you cannot legally purchase nor own a handgun, plain and simple. The 1968 Gun Control Act bans “anyone who is an unlawful user or addicted to any controlled substance” from owning a firearm. This would include medical cannabis patients, who must admit their marijuana use on Form 4473 when purchasing a gun. If you don’t, you face perjury charges.
Do you possess a medical marijuana card and also own a handgun (or are you considering getting one)? Then this issue affects you.
The Second Amendment: Does It Still Apply to Medical Cannabis Users?
The devil is in the details, as the saying goes. In the case of the ever-changing climate of marijuana legalization in this country, this is as true as it is confusing.
Although marijuana use is currently legal for medical use in close to two dozen states, it is still considered a Schedule I illegal substance at the federal level. And since federal law trumps state law when it comes to gun control, the 1968 Gun Control Act still applies. In fact, as the list of states that are legalizing marijuana for medical use grows, the feds appear to be digging in their heels even harder in their enforcement of the Act for medical cannabis users. In September 2011, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) issued an official memo directed at legal firearms dealers, stating that there will be no exceptions to the rule, i.e. if they sell a firearm to someone whom they know is using marijuana in any way, they will be violating federal law. At the same time, if a gun owner is caught handling cannabis, that person may face a “mandatory sentence” of five years in prison for the first gun and 25 years for each additional one. What is even more perplexing is that the punishment for cannabis users who are also gun holders is even stricter than that for those on “no fly” lists or who have “selectee” status, including suspected terrorists, hijackers, rapists and known killers.
One retired federal judge who was forced to sentence a cannabis user who was also a gun owner to 55 years in prison because of minimum sentencing regulations put it this way:
“If he had been an aircraft hijacker, he would have gotten 24 years in prison. If he’d been a terrorist, he would have gotten 20 years in prison. If he was a child rapist, he would have gotten 11 years in prison. And now I’m supposed to give him a 55-year sentence? I mean, that’s just not right.”
A (Possible) Light at the End of the Tunnel
While the strict federal regulations still stand when it comes to cannabis use and gun ownership, some sense of legal reason is beginning to surface at the state level. Some states, such as Nevada and Oregon, are passing laws which allow medical cannabis users to possess firearms in their homes for self-defense as long as they are not under the influence when they use them. However, these laws do not preclude enforcement of the 1968 Gun Control Act by federal law enforcement officials if those officials choose to do so.
At the same time, there have also been some attempts to address the Second Amendment rights of medical cannabis users by members of congress. In 2014, Senator John Walsh of Montana proposed a bill amendment that would defund ATF and Department of Justice attempts to enforce the federal law against registered medical cannabis users. The amendment was eventually scrapped from the original bill. However, other members of congress have been joining the chorus of voices standing up for cannabis patients’ rights in recent months. This last March, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, asking her to reexamine federal gun regulations that are inconsistent with state laws where marijuana use is legal. Alaska has one of the highest per capita gun ownership rates (at 61%) and is also one of the 4 states where marijuana is legal for both medical and recreational use.
“If the cultivation, manufacture, and use of marijuana and marijuana products is to be lawful in Alaska, it must be undertaken consistent with the regulatory scheme, and proactive efforts should be taken to reconcile inconsistent federal laws with more permissive state laws,” Senator Murkowski’s letter reads.
She sees the issue as one individuals’ Second Amendment as well as state’s rights:
“It is my judgment that denying Americans the personal Second Amendment right to possess firearms as articulated by the Supreme Court in (District of Columbia v. Heller) for mere use of marijuana pursuant to state law is arbitrarily overbroad and should be narrowed.”
So far, she has not gotten a response from the U.S. Attorney General’s office.
For Medical Cannabis Users: Play It Safe
The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlined the basis for today’s modern version of the “right to bear arms.” In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court’s
2008 ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller established the right of Americans to keep guns at home for self-defense. At the present time, it appears as if these rights do not apply to medical cannabis users.
Of course, we at United Patients Group join the rest of the country in our deep concern about the disturbing events that occurred in Orlando and that are consistently occurring around the country and around the world. At the same time, we see this is not only a Second Amendment rights issue, but also a patients’ rights issue. The denying of the “right to bear arms” to legally-sanctioned medical cannabis users is an injustice that must be rectified and we believe that in time it will be. In the meantime, we advise medical marijuana users to play it safe when it comes to applying for weapon permits. As cannabis as a healing modality becomes backed by more and more evidence-based scientific research, cannabis WILL be removed from the list of Schedule I drugs and, in turn, the nonsensical federal regulations regarding cannabis use and gun ownership will change as well.
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