A fellow came by our table at the gun show today asking about recommendations for a lawyer. It seems that his home in unincorporated Jefferson County was raided by officers of the Denver police department who searched his house and confiscated all the guns there, some of which belonged to his wife. The explanation he was given was that since he has a "red card" for medical marijuana, his second amendment rights are forfeit.
There is an ongoing problem with Colorado's experiment legalizing MJ in that the form 4473 asks if the applicant is a user of illegal drugs. While MJ is legal at the state level, the feds still consider it to be an illegal drug so answering the question in the negative would be construed by the feds as a false answer. Answering in the positive would of course result in a rejection for purchase of a firearm.
As he explained it the Denver cops took all the guns in the house including his wife's guns although she does not use medical MJ, and some guns which he has had since before the introduction of background checks. Some months have passed, and no charges have been filed but the DPD refuses to return the guns.
We recommended him to a first rate attorney who even if they can't afford him will send them to someone more economical who can competently assist them.
I'll see if I can get any more information on this.
I think weed is still illegal in the states and that it is more accurate to say that it is the 'doctors recommendation' which makes it permissible for a specific use.
ReplyDeleteOf the experience of the man caught in the example you provided, it shouldn't be any surprise. When people began the earnest cry that it is a 'mental health' problem I became alarmed. Some of those people were motivated in their attempts to brand 'gun control' as a mental health issue in order to pre-empt an argument of the anti- in the growing battle over firearms. Ever more of the people will be caught up as the debate turns to deciding who is or is not 'qualified' for RKBA. I do not see the issue about MJ, per se. Rather it is, and will likely become ever more, about all kinds of mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health. And the resultant laws will as likely be vaguely written, strictly enforced. An appeal will consume year upon years. Due process becomes a party joke.
My particular lament can be summed as, in a world where depression is found to be a disqualifying condition the term is so broadly defined that Christ Jesus himself would be so diagnosed, none of us are safe. Yes, your example revolved around MJ yet here I speak of depression. But each falls under the subject of condition, cure, and confiscation. Look for ever increasing disqualifying conditions as the debate matures.
RE: may last sentence in the previous comment.
ReplyDeleteDebate is probably inexact for there is no debate when it is one side which is the judge and the jury. One is screwed because they decide and that is as likely to be independent of factual evidence. IOW, it is because they say it is. Brave new world and stuff.
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