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Guns and Medical Marijuana: You Can’t Have It All, Despite Amendment 2

This week, medical marijuana was legalized in Missouri. But those with a medical marijuana license jeopardize their Second Amendment right to buy and possess a gun. It is illegal to buy a firearm with a medical marijuana license. Also, it is illegal to sell a firearm or ammunition to someone with a medical marijuana license.

Illegal to Buy Firearm with Medical Marijuana License

Missourians with a medical marijuana card are required to answer “yes,” on the question 11.e on the ATF Firearm Transaction Record, Form 4473. That question is, “Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?”

Right below that question, the ATF posts a warning in bold letters that there is no exception under federal law for medicinal marijuana. Click here to read the ATF Firearm Transaction Form. 

Illegal to Sell a Firearm or Ammunition to Someone with a Medical Marijuana License

To make matters worse, it is a violation of federal law to sell firearm or ammunition to anyone that the buyer know or has cause to believe is an “unlawful user.” A state-issued medical marijuana license counts as reasonable cause to believe the person is an unlawful user under federal law.

This means that gun shops and other dealers can be prosecuted for selling a firearm to a person that has a medical marijuana license.

That law applies to everyone, not just businesses. Federal law makes it unlawful for any person to sell or otherwise dispose of any firearm or ammunition to any person that has a medical marijuana license. Click here to read that federal law, 18 U.S.C. 922(d)(3).

With these big changes to Missouri’s medical marijuana law, combined with the strict federal ban, there will likely be an increase in the number of people charged and prosecuted with selling a firearm illegally or buying and possessing a firearm illegally in Southwest Missouri.

Source.