Will A Medical Cannabis Card Affect My Gun Rights? (Illinois)



With federal and state laws in conflict, it’s hard to know how cannabis will affect your rights. Learn how your gun rights are affected …

6 Comments

  1. Bottomline drugs, alcohol and guns don't mix. If you shoot someone while under the influence or not under the influence. You will go to jail. Leave the guns locked up when you tie one on no matter what you choose. Or don't buy.

  2. I'm sorry, but the video is not entirely accurate. 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 matter 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 federal 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).

  3. Here’s the thing. If your high and shoot someone. You will be arrested. Can’t be intoxicated and possess a firearm. Also the victim or victim’s family will sue you in civil court and take everything you own. Your dope card will be Exhibit A. when carry a firearm you need to hold yourself to a higher standard. If you wanna do drugs, leave the gun at home. Or better yet, just don’t do drugs.

  4. I was recently diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer and got a medical marijuana card, I already have a foi and own a 20gauge shot gun. I want get a concealed carry license and buy a hand gun, can I?

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