By Danny Fenster
ticklethewire.com
Flair-ups continue between local and federal law enforcement over a recent ATF letter to arms dealers regarding guns and medical marijuana users.
The Belgrade News reports that Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock wrote the Justice Department this week to voice his opposition to a recent ATF letter sent to guns dealers telling them they cannot sell weapons to people taking medical marijuana.
Federal law prohibits selling firearms to any “unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance.” Because marijuana is a federally controlled substance, and because there are no federal exemptions for medicinal use, ATF stated that it is illegal to sell to users of marijuana.
As Montana begins its hunting season, people are buying guns and ammunition, Bullock wrote U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, and residents are “preparing to enjoy an activity that is deeply rooted in our heritage and culture.”
Bullock claims the policy defies his state’s constitutional right to hunt, and that it “implicates serious legal issues under the Second Amendment, and the equal protection and due process clauses of the Fifth Amendment,” according to Belgrade News.
The paper reported that Bullock wrote that some medical marijuana cardholders may not use the drug all of the time, yet the firearm restriction would apply to them for as long as the card was valid.
“The ATF letter does not take this into account, even though the controlling federal regulation recognizes that a person who uses a controlled substance in a manner prescribed by a physician is not disqualified from possessing or buying ammunition or guns” under federal law, he said in the letter.
To read more click here.
