Appeals court upholds ban on gun sales to marijuana card holders
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Plants grew at the home of Jeremy Nickle, owner of Hawaiian Holy Smokes, in Honolulu on Feb. 17. A federal government ban on the sale of guns to medical marijuana card holders does not violate the Second Amendment, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said today.
SAN FRANCISCO » A federal government ban on the sale of guns to medical marijuana card holders does not violate the Second Amendment, a federal appeals court said today.
The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals applies to the nine Western states that fall under the court’s jurisdiction, including California, Washington and Oregon.
It came in a lawsuit filed by S. Rowan Wilson, a Nevada woman who tried to buy a firearm in 2011 after obtaining a medical marijuana card.
The gun store refused, citing the federal rule on the sale of firearms to illegal drug users.
Marijuana remains illegal under federal law, and 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.
The 9th Circuit in its 3-0 decision agreed that it’s reasonable for federal regulators to assume a medical marijuana card holder is more likely to use the drug.
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In addition, a ban on the sale of guns to marijuana and other drug users is reasonable because the use of such drugs “raises the risk of irrational or unpredictable behavior with which gun use should not be associated,” Senior District Judge Jed Rakoff said.
The 9th Circuit also rejected other constitutional challenges to the ban that were raised by Wilson.
An email to Wilson’s attorney was not immediately returned.
5 responses to “Appeals court upholds ban on gun sales to marijuana card holders”
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I would worry a whole lot less about a stoner with a gun than I would about a guy who just drank a 12 pack. Leave it to the 9th circuit to make such a decision.
Amazing.
Bizarre.
Feds must start knocking on MJ card holders that own guns and start confiscating gun collections.
Just a note to the Fed’s…When you force something to remain illegal like marijuana and selective gun sales in spite of states to who have created and follow their own laws, you have just created an illegal marketplace and therefore have promoted illegal activity. Looks like illicit gun salesmen have a new target market…potheads the Fed’s have discriminated against. You can’t regulate something that is illegal.
Makes sense, but maybe a little too much government involvement!