Cannabis and Gun Rights | Can You Own a Gun and Have a Medical Marijuana Card?



Cannabis and Gun Rights | Can You Own a Gun and Have a Medical Marijuana Card? Attorney Tammy Allison aka The Pardon …

24 Comments

  1. A user of cannabis, even if legal under state law, violates federal law (18 USC 922(g)(3)) if he has possession (physical control and/or access) to a gun or ammunition. Violation is punishable by up to ten years in federal prison (18 USC 924) and would automatically include a lifetime loss of gun rights.

    [I] It doesn't matte whether he acquired the gun or ammunition before he began using cannabis. It doesn't matter whether he acquired the gun or ammunition from a private party. Someone who is a user of cannabis, even if legal under state law, may not legally, under law, have possession of any gun or any ammunition — no matter where or how acquired.

    [A] Under 18 USC 922(g)(3) it is unlawful for anyone who, "…is an unlawful user of … any controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802))…." to, "…possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition; or to receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce…."

    [B] Possession is broader than ownership. See U.S. v. Booth, 111 F.3d 1 (C.A.1 (Mass.), 1997, at 1):

    "…The law recognizes two kinds of possession, actual possession and constructive possession…. Even when a person does not actually possess an object, he may be in constructive possession of it. Constructive possession exists when a person knowingly has the power and the intention at a given time of exercising dominion and control over an object or over the area in which the object is located. The law recognizes no distinction between actual and constructive possession, either form of possession is sufficient. Possession of an object may be established by either direct evidence or by circumstantial evidence. It is not necessary to prove ownership of the object,…"

    [C] A gun or ammunition which has ever traveled in interstate commerce satisfies the statutory, "… in or affecting commerce…" requirement. See U.S. v. Singletary, 268 F.3d 196 (3rd Cir., 2001), at 200:

    "…the Court in Scarborough v. United States had the opportunity to address squarely "whether proof that the possessed firearm previously traveled in interstate commerce is sufficient to satisfy the statutorily required nexus between the possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and commerce." 431 U.S. 563, 564 (1977). The Court accepted the Government's contention that it only need prove that "the firearm possessed by the convicted felon traveled at some time in interstate commerce." Id. at 568. Thus, the Scarborough Court established the proposition that the transport of a weapon in interstate commerce, however remote in the distant past, gives its present intrastate possession a sufficient nexus to interstate commerce to fall within the ambit of the statute. Because S 1202(a) is the predecessor to the current felon-in-possession statute, this statutory construction applies equally to S 922(g)(1)…."

    [D] Cannabis is a Schedule I controlled substance, and as such can not be legally, under federal law, prescribed, sold, possessed, or used.

    [E] Therefore anyone who uses cannabis is an unlawful user of a controlled substance under federal law, even if legal under state law, and thus prohibited from possessing a gun or ammunition.

    [II] Under 18 USC 922(d) it is unlawful for anyone to, "… sell or otherwise dispose of any firearm or ammunition to any person knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that such person…." is a prohibited person under 18 USC 922(g) from possessing a gun or ammunition. Violation is punishable by up to ten years in federal prison (18 USC 924) and would automatically include a lifetime loss of gun rights. So anyone selling a gun privately to someone he knows or has reasonable cause to believe is a user of cannabis commits a serious violation of federal law.

    [III] See Willis v. Winters, 253 P.3d 1058 (Or., 2011), in which the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that Michael Winters, as Sheriff of Jackson County, was required under Oregon law to issue a concealed handgun license to Cynthia Willis even though she was a medical marijuana user; BUT the Oregon Supreme Court specifically noted (at pp. 1065 – 1066):

    "…Neither is the statute [the Oregon CHL law] an obstacle to Congress's purposes in the sense that it interferes with the ability of the federal government to enforce the policy that the Gun Control Act expresses. A marijuana user's possession of a CHL may exempt him or her from prosecution or arrest under ORS 166.250(1)(a) and (b), but it does not in any way preclude full enforcement of the federal law by federal law enforcement officials…"

    And thus the Oregon Supreme Court specifically acknowledged that while Ms. Willis would not be arrested by Oregon LEOs or prosecuted under Oregon law for carrying a concealed handgun, she could still be arrested by federal LEOs, prosecuted under federal law and sent to federal prison for being a prohibited person in possession of a gun in violation of 18 USC 922(g)(3).

    [IV] And no, I am not "anti-gun"

    [A] I'm a life member of the United States Practical Shooting Association, the Amateur Trapshooting Association, the NRA, and the Second Amendment Foundation. When I was younger I actively competed.

    [B] I've trained at Gunsite (including one class with Jeff Cooper as range master), with Massad Ayoob, with Louis Awerbuck and others.

    [C] I'm an NRA certified instructor in Basic Handgun, Personal Protection Inside the Home, Personal Protection Outside the Home, and Shotgun. For the last ten or so years I've been with a group of instructors who put on monthly basic handgun classes (for which none of us receive any compensation – class fees just cover our expenses). I've also worked with another instructor putting on wingshooting classes for beginners. I've also been a coach with our club's youth SCTP trapshooting group. In the last 20 years I've introduced well over a thousand people (conservatively) to shooting

  2. Virginia on the map with that move, I live I. The state in a small country town, where I have been profiled Still til the day and going through the court process for no reason. I would love to tell you guys my story if you read this! I live in Virginia and it’s still crazy. πŸ‘‹πŸ½πŸ‘‹πŸ½

  3. IF you're smart, you'll learn how to make gunpowder "from scratch," because all the US government has to do to make "arms" worthless is to ban the manufacture, sale or possess gunpowder. That's how they'll get around the 2nd Amendment.#TRUTHMAN2024

  4. Fun fact the head lawyer from Pittsburgh normal once told me if you have a gun of any kind even a legal one and you get caught growing even one plant it's instantly a felony and big trouble….

  5. If TX goes threw with some legislation to fix this dilemma I'm moving to texas….Pennsylvania has been backsliding away from the 2nd amendment rights ever since Tom Wolfe took control….I've been looking into moving to Ohio if they become a 2nd amendment sanctuary but if Texas dose this I'm moving to Texas I'd already have a job there waiting because friends own resteraunts there…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*