Pubdate: Wed, 28 Sep 2011
Source: Billings Gazette, The (MT)
Copyright: 2011 The Billings Gazette
Contact: http://billingsgazette.com/app/contact/?contact=letter
Website: http://www.billingsgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/515
Author: Charles S. Johnson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

Illegal for Medical Marijuana Cardholders to Buy Firearms

GUN, MEDICAL POT GROUPS BLAST ATF POLICY

HELENA - A gun group and medical marijuana advocates expressed 
outrage Tuesday over a new federal policy clarifying that it is 
illegal for medical marijuana cardholders to buy firearms and 
ammunition and for dealers to sell these products to them.

Gary Marbut, president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association, 
and Kate Cholewa and Chris Lindsey, board members of Montana Cannabis 
Industry Association, separately blasted the Sept. 21 letter sent by 
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives of the U.S. 
Justice Department to federally licensed firearms dealers.

"It is egregious that people may be sentenced to years in a federal 
prison only because they possessed a firearm while using a 
state-approved medicine," Marbut said in a statement from the association.

Cholewa said: "In fact, the policy goes so far as to say even being 
in possession of a medical cannabis card forfeits a citizen's Second 
Amendment rights whether or not that person ever followed through and 
used cannabis for their condition."

Chris Lindsey, a lawyer specializing in medical marijuana cases, 
wrote: "With a stroke of a pen, the Department of Justice has 
suspended the Second Amendment for those who use medical cannabis."

Rep. Diane Sands, D-Missoula, who headed an interim legislative panel 
that studied the issue last year, called the letter "further evidence 
that federal marijuana law trumps any Montana legislation, initiative 
or court action attempting to create protected medical use for marijuana."

"The only viable action open to Montana and other states is to change 
the federal law," Sands said.

The federal letter reiterated the Justice Department's position that 
marijuana is a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law. The 
memo added that "there are no exceptions in federal law for marijuana 
purportedly used for medicinal purposes, even if such use is 
sanctioned by state law."

Federal law makes it illegal for someone to sell or otherwise dispose 
of any firearms or ammunition to a person "knowing or having 
reasonable cause to believe that such person is an unlawful user of 
or addicted to a controlled substances," the memo said.

"Therefore, any person who uses or is addicted to marijuana, 
regardless of whether his or her state has passed legislation 
authorizing marijuana use for medicinal purposes, is an unlawful user 
of or addicted to a controlled substance and is prohibited by federal 
law from possessing firearms or ammunition," it said.

The memo says people who are using medical marijuana should answer 
"yes" to a question on that issue on the Firearms Transaction Record 
form that asks: "Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, 
marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other 
controlled substance?" Gun dealers must refuse to sell firearms or 
ammunition to those answering yes.

If a gun dealer has reasonable cause to believe the person is an 
unlawful user of medical marijuana, the letter says the dealer may 
not sell guns and bullets to the person, even if he answered no to 
the question.

Chris Bone, who works in the gun department at Capital Sports & 
Western, said those working in sporting good stores have no way of 
checking whether someone wanting to buy guns or ammunition has a 
medical marijuana card.

He said he's never had a customer answer yes to that question, Bone said.

In his statement, Marbut, said called it "more than unfortunate when 
a constitutional right - the right to bear arms that people have 
reserved to themselves from government interference - is arbitrarily 
taken away by what many see as an overbearing and overintrusive 
federal government.

"This is a matter, however hotly contested, that should be left to 
the discretion of the Montana Legislature, not a bureau of the 
executive branch of the federal government."

Marbut asked why the right to bear arms isn't treated the same as the 
freedoms of the press, religion or speech.

Cholewa said the federal government is rescinding gun rights after 
the Legislature tried to subject citizens to warrantless searches 
with the medical marijuana law. The federal government is "unable to 
fight the truth that hundreds of thousands are finding relief through 
medical cannabis.

"They have neither facts nor science to support their position so the 
federal government is using force, threats and the denial of their 
constitutional rights. They've invested billions in misinformation 
about cannabis. They don't like having their message undermined by 
data and experience."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom