A Maryland Senate Committee has approved a bill meant to protect the gun rights of medical marijuana patients in accordance with state law.
The Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, which first discussed the bill and a separate proposal allowing police to search vehicles based solely on the smell cannabis, unanimously approved the firearms legislation on Wednesday.
The chair mentioned briefly that “we have passed the bill probably five times in recent sessions” though the reform is not yet law.
Sen. Mike McKay, (R), is the sponsor of the current legislation. This would allow registered medical marijuana patients to own, carry and buy firearms in Maryland, even though federal law still prohibits them from doing so.
Maryland’s legislature took up this issue at the same time last year. The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing to discuss a separate, but related proposal that would protect the gun rights of medical marijuana patients.
In recent years, marijuana and gun rights activists have challenged the constitutionality of the federal law that prevents cannabis users from owning firearms.
In Pennsylvania, for instance, a district prosecutor filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department last month over the ban which he claims violates the Second Amendment right of medical cannabis patients like himself.
Recently, a Republican Senator in Pennsylvania said he would introduce legislation to remove state laws that prohibit medical marijuana patients from carrying firearms.
The South Dakota governor signed into law a bill that requires patients to mark a box when applying for a medical marijuana card affirming they are aware of federal law prohibiting cannabis consumers from purchasing and possessing firearms.
In numerous federal court cases, the federal Justice Department insisted that cannabis users should not be allowed to possess guns. They argued at times that marijuana users pose a unique risk, similar to allowing people with mental illnesses to own firearms.
The U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering whether to take up the question of the constitutionality of the federal gun prohibition for marijuana users.
The Supreme Court is expected to decide if they will hear the federal government’s appeal of a Circuit Court ruling which found that the firearm restriction was in violation of the Second Amendment.
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The U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit made the ruling after examining the federal law known as Section 902(g)(3). This statute prohibits anyone who is an “unlawful drug user” from purchasing or possessing firearms. The court ruled that the policy was unconstitutional when it applied to a man convicted for using cannabis while in possession a firearm.
A little-noticed FBI memo from 2019, which recently surfaced, shows that the federal government generally does not view it as a crime for medical cannabis caregivers or growers to own guns .
In the first half of the current two-year legislative session, Republican lawmakers filed two bills that focused on marijuana and gun policy.
Rep. Brian Mast, co-chairman of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus and a member of the House of Representatives, introduced legislation last year that would protect the Second Amendment right of marijuana users in states where the drug is legal. This legislation would allow them to buy and possess firearms, which they are currently prohibited to have under federal law.
Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer (DNY) has promised to attach that legislation to the bipartisan marijuana banking bill, which advanced out of committee last September.
Mast is also sponsoring a separate Bill from Rep. Alex Mooney (R-WV), in this session, which would allow medical marijuana patients to buy and possess firearms.
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The article Maryland Senate committee approves bill to protect medical marijuana patients’ gun rights under state law first appeared on Marijuana Moment.
