Your Privacy Choices
Yes, this post is skirting that fine line of “Firearms Not Politics”, but it is certainly newsworthy, if not actually a surprise to anyone. So, lets try and keep this to the informational side of the topic, whatever your feeling on the topic–it is “gun news”.
The first I had heard of this topic was when I went to do the paperwork after the mid-July NFA change to Trusts. The new form to fill out actually has a question on it regarding marijuana use (and even explains the rationale; namely that it is still Federally illegal).
The crux of the matter here is that S. Rowan Wilson, a woman from Nevada attempted to buy a firearm in 2011. The problem is that she was a current holder of a medical marijuana card. And as a result, she was declined the purchase by the gun store because of the federal rule regarding the sale of firearms to illegal drug users; marijuana is illegal under federal law. Apparently the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has told gun sellers they can assume a person with a medical marijuana card uses the drug, and (according to the Associated Press article) Congress
reasonably concluded that marijuana and other drug use “raises the risk of irrational or unpredictable behavior with which gun use should not be associated.”
S. Rowan Wilson filed a lawsuit against infringement of her Second Amendment rights, and as of today, the 9th District Court (which presides over Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington) ruled that the ban does not violate the Second Amendment.
So, the take away here, attempting to stay away from the politics of it, is that you, as a gun owner/user/purchaser in the United States needs to be aware of the local and national laws that govern your purchases and participation with firearms.
Some References:
http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/Court-upholds-gun-ban-for-people-who-use-medical-9196134.php
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us-court-upholds-ban-gun-sales-marijuana-card-41778814
