South Dakota Republican legislators have introduced a bill that would require state-licensed dispensaries to post signs at their business warning that federal law prohibits cannabis users from owning firearms.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Kevin Jensen, Sen. Jim Stalzer, and 10 other lawmakers, comes as the constitutionality of the federal gun ban on marijuana consumers is being contested in several courts.
According to the bill, South Dakota’s medical cannabis dispensaries will be required to display at their entrances and at every register or point-of-sale a sign reading:
“WARNING Federal Law prohibits possession of firearms by certain individuals that are marijuana users or addicts. See 18 U.S.C. “SS 922(g)”.
The measure states the warning requirement will be suspended when the Attorney General certifies “federal laws no longer prohibit the possession of firearms by certain individuals that are users or addicts to marijuana.”
Businesses that do not post the notice will be charged a $250 civil penalty per day. The fees go to the state general fund.
In numerous federal court cases, the Justice Department insisted that the rule was necessary, arguing, at times, that marijuana users who also own guns are a special danger. It is like allowing people with mental illnesses to possess firearms.
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The Biden administration claimed that cannabis consumers with guns pose a threat to society, in part because they’re a data-google-interstitial=”false” href=”https://www.marijuanamoment.net/bidens-justice department says marijuana consumers are unlikely to store their weapons properly in the latest defense of federal ban/” rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>/a> “unlikely”. The Biden administration claimed that cannabis consumers who own guns are a danger to society. This is because they’re ‘unlikely’ to store their weapons properly.
In a brief filed in the case, attorneys from the Justice Department argued that the firearm ban for cannabis consumers is justified by historical analogies to restrictions imposed on the mentally ill or habitually intoxicated during the period of the Second Amendment ratification in1791.
The federal government has claimed repeatedly that these analogues support limiting the gun rights of cannabis users. But a number of federal courts have ruled the marijuana-related prohibition unconstitutional. This has led DOJ to appeal several ongoing cases.
In October, the Justice Department made similar arguments during oral argument in a related but separate case before the U.S. Court of Appeals Eleventh Circuit. This case is about the Second Amendment rights for medical cannabis patients in Florida.
The attorneys in both cases also touched upon a U.S. Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit ruling, Daniels v. United States from August that found that the ban prohibiting people who use cannabis from possessing firearms was unconstitutional. This is true even if the marijuana users consume it for non-medical purposes.
DOJ had already informed the Eleventh Circuit Court that it believed the ruling to be “incorrectly determined,”, and the department’s lawyer reiterated the government’s view that “there are reasons to doubt the foundations” in the appeals court’s decision.
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma ruled last summer that the prohibition on people using marijuana possessing firearms was unconstitutional. The judge stated that the federal government’s justification for maintaining the law is “concerning.”
In U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, a judge ruled in April that banning people who use marijuana from possessing firearms is unconstitutional–and it said the same legal principle also applies to the sale and transfer of guns.
ATF wrote to Arkansas officials in August to warn them that the recently passed law allowing medical cannabis patients to get concealed carry licenses was “unacceptable” and could compromise the state’s alternative firearm licensing policy, which has been approved by the federal government.
issued a warning shortly after Minnesota’s Governor signed a bill legalizing cannabis into law in 2017. The agency reminded that those who use marijuana are prohibited from owning or purchasing guns and ammunition until the federal prohibition is lifted.
ATF will issue an advisory in 2020 that specifically targets Michigan and requires gun sellers conduct federal background checks for all unlicensed buyers. It said Michigan’s cannabis laws allowed “habitual marijuana consumers” and other disqualified persons to obtain firearms without a license.
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 in May that would protect the Second Amendment right of marijuana users in states where the drug is legal. This bill 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 a committee in 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.
While Sen. Cory Booker, (D-NJ), said in July, that he believed the justice system had handled the prosecution of the president’s child effectively, he still believes that there is a double standard in the country, which has allowed presidents, members of Congress, and others to admit past marijuana use with impunity , while thousands of people who are less fortunate face punitive cannabis laws .
A ballot measure proposed in Colorado would eliminate marijuana use from the list of disqualifications for concealed carry permits. This could allow people who use marijuana to carry concealed weapons in public.
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The first time Marijuana moment published the post South Dakota bill would force medical cannabis dispensaries to warn patients about federal gun ban for people ‘addicted to marijuana’.
