The Pa State Police put an announcement on their website about people with the new medical marijuana card will have to dispose of their firearms. The cards will be issued starting in 2018. They can not buy firearms, possess firearms or ammunition and can not get a CCW. So it will now be a Felony to have a gun and legal pot but still an unclassified Misdemeanor possession charge to own a gun and illegal pot. I don't do marijuana and still won't even if it's legal so this doesn't effect my life but it will make lots of future felons. Here is the web address and wording of what they have so far on this.

http://www.psp.pa.gov/firearms-information/Pages/Firearms-Information.aspx

Firearms Information
The Pennsylvania State Police Firearms Division is part of the Bureau of Records and Identification and is charged with maintaining records related to firearms licensing and transfers.
The Firearms Division also operates the Pennsylvania Instant Check System (PICS), which is used by firearms dealers to verify an applicant’s eligibility to legally purchase a firearm in just a few minute's time.

Information for Medical Marijuana Cardholders:

It is legal under Pennsylvania law for the holder of a validly issued patient Medical Marijuana Card to possess approved forms of medical marijuana.  However,  as per the United States Department of Justice, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) state legalization of medical marijuana is not recognized by the federal government;, and possession of a valid Medical Marijuana Card and/or the use of medical marijuana  defines you an “unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance”; and, therefore, prohibited by Federal law from the purchase or acquisition, possession or control of a firearm pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3), and 27 C.F.R. § 478.32(a)(3).

The BATFE’s statement is set forth in its September 21, 2011, Open Letter to all Federal Firearms Licensees, which states in part that “[t]herefore, any person who uses or is addicted to marijuana, regardless of whether his or her State has passed legislation authorizing marijuana use for medicinal purposes, is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance, and is prohibited by Federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition.” Click here for a copy of the Open Letter.  Likewise, the mere possession of a Medical Marijuana Card will give rise to an inference that you are an “unlawful user of or addicted to” a controlled substance, pursuant to 27 C.F.R. § 478.11.

If you are holder of a Medical Marijuana Card, it is important that you know:

• It is unlawful for you to attempt to purchase a firearm under Federal law and you will be denied during your Pennsylvania State Police background check, due to prohibitions under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3).
• It is unlawful for you to keep possession of any firearms which you owned or had in your possession prior to obtaining a Medical Marijuana Card, and you should consult an attorney about the best way to dispose of your firearms.  Again, this is due to prohibitions under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3).
• It is also unlawful for you to apply for, possess or renew a Pennsylvania License to Carry Firearm (LTC), because you are “[a]n individual who is prohibited from possessing or acquiring a firearm under the statutes of the United States.” (see above).  The sheriff should not process your application if you truthfully indicate to the sheriff that you are the holder of a Medical Marijuana Card.  Additionally, you will be denied during the Pennsylvania State Police background check, which occurs as part of the LTC application or renewal process.

States ignore one set of federal statutes (21 U.S. Code  812) while enforcing another set that rely upon the first (18 U.S. Code  922).

I love consistency.  

ZFG. Chose one or the other. As of now, you cannot have both.

Well, I'll sure sleep safer tonite

All I picture is Farva.

Never miss an opportunity to disarm the peasants.

Deprivation of rights under color of law. Title 18 Section 242. Where's the FBI? Bueller?

Good.

No shit

Having a pot card is not the same thing as possessing marijuana.

Just like having a drivers license isn't the same thing as driving.

Just like having a CWP doesn't automatically mean you're packing heat.

I'd like to see more due process.

Would it theoretically be legal to sell your guns to someone who lives in the same house as you?

"No officer, I don't own any guns. Those all belong to my wife here, who doesn't use marijuana."

The good guys right?

*sounds of jackboots*

lol

Probably the only time Pennsylvania wished it was under the 9th Circuit as it has ruled people with medical cards can own firearms, but not purchase new ones from FFL dealers.

Handguns you have to fill out a nice little state police form. I think its a $10 fee.

But can you still buy a case of whiskey and own a gun?  Of course, god bless America.

Seconded

Protected and served sorry dope fiends

You can legally carry in a bar here in PA.

You can legally carry in a bar here in PA.

Liberty and justice for all...

I feel safer already....

How are they proving that medical card holders are also marijuana users? It could certainly be inferred that they are likely marijuana users, but the fact that they simply hold the card does not necessarily indicate that they actually use it. It’s the same as there being many people with a valid drivers license who don’t even own a car.

Sounds to me a lot like deprivation of rights without any due process, based on circumstantial evidence.

Edit: To point out a more specific circumstance... I live on the SF Bay Peninsula in California. They have a ton of pot conventions and events here - they even advertise them on the radio. Some of these conventions require you to have a medical card for entry. Due to the recent statewide legalization, you can get a medical card just by asking for it, so these conventions will hire doctors to sit out front and issue medical permits to anyone who wants one.

So even as a non-user of marijuana, I could go to one of these conventions just for the novelty of attending and they would issue me a medical card so I could enter. The fact that I am not a marijuana user would not change just because I now have a valid medical card. Explain how it is legally defensible to deprive me of my 2A rights after that?

Without even commenting on the merits, this is a predictable consequence.  Anybody who didn't see this coming is a fool.

In before Cheech and Chongers with their pot needles and rock music.

Never get the card.

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed, unless they have medical use for a particular plant associated with hippies, in which case it may be infringed upon."

It's awesome that people can use or be addicted to alcohol and opiates, and not have their rights infringed. Because, alcohol is legal, and pills are usually prescribed.

fuck PA with a broom stick

Yep. I don't agree with it, but it was foreseeable.

I work in healthcare and regularly talk guns with my opioid prescribed patients. Medical mj is not a thing here (yet), but if it does, and some of those patients move from oxycodone and Vicodin to medical marijuana, I suspect that they will one day get a letter.

I understand that a lot, if not most, of those who have pot cards are solely to get legal smoke. I don't know that the right answer is, but part of me feels like it is a slippery slope.

I suspect the revised regulation will state having a pot card AND possessing (or using) pot, will be the prohibiting factor, rather than just having the pot card.

Your mom letting you stay up until midnight?

The PD/FD in my town (small town) respond to DOZENS of calls every single week for incidents relating to alcohol and opiods, I’ve yet to see pot cause a fraction of the death, damage, and despair the aforementioned substances continually cause

But as soon as the devils lettuce comes up GD goes full gestapo

This....who the fuck didn’t know this would happen.

Yep.

Dont forget you can have a legally own presscription methamphetanine and xanax with guns too

It will be deemed Unconstitutional.

Just because you have a card, does not mean that you use it.

Just because you have a drivers license does not mean that you own a car, or drive one.

Fucking retards. There is already precedence set with case law in other states.

Right. It's downright comical.

Enough already.

We need to go ahead and decriminalize marijuana. Prohibition doesn't work and is asinine for a plant that is pretty common.

Drug impairment is not okay and can be dangerous, but the same can be said for alcohol.

How about some more freedom?

But if you are taking Opiates like Hydrocodone or Oxycontin. Or Adderall aka medical Meth.

Your good to go.

However if you take Cannabis prescribed by a medical Dr.  You can't own a gun.

Eff that state.

Disarm 1 group at a time until there are no groups left to disarm.

Yet nearly every American is going to go get drunk tonight and not lose their Constitutional right to bear arms. Alcohol is a much stronger mind altering drug than THC, and also a proven killer.

I do not suggest anyone get a MJ card who wants to own guns, but the laws need to change put pot and alcohol on equal ground. Progress comes at a slow pace though, and I’m glad we’re seeing legal pot at least, because this is a major improvement in freedom.

Adderrall isnt medical meth, desoxyn is, which is still prescribed today.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/05/oregon_supreme_court_sends_mes.html

Shoot heroin, take pills without prescription = Illegal/prohibited
Have a prescription for fentynal or morphine= legal.

Smoke pot = illegal/prohibited
Have a prescription for thc pills, gel, oil = fuck you, still illegal/ prohibited

Makes total sense

ignore federal laws that make pot illegal.  ram federal laws about possession with a firearm up your ass.

Needs repeating.

Buy a gun at a dealer, when you fill out the 4473, question 11, E, asks if you use drugs. Tell the truth if you have a medical marijuana card then get denied, lie and commit a felony.

If you do have a medical marijuana card, is it kept secret in you medical records and falls under the HIPAA privacy rule?

Either way, I hope marijuana become legal on a federal level, personal responsibility and freedom should allow a sound minded adult choose what they want to put into their body.  I don't have any reasons to smoke it so this doesn't affect me.

Yeah, I get that it's a federal no-no. I get that some here have a hard-on for pot while somehow championing freedom in tandem.

Ever stop to think about how fucking stupid this all is?


I can go buy grain alcohol. I have leftover oxycodone from a bad fracture. I have an Rx for Ambien. Should the aforementioned strip me of gun rights as well?

I don't smoke (will send you a pic of my Albuteral inhaler if you don't believe me) and I don't care if people do, so long as they aren't driving. Why the fuck is this a good thing?

This.

Some rights are more equal than others.

Repeated.