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The Arkansas House of Representatives has passed a bill to clarify that medical marijuana patients can obtain concealed carry licenses for firearms, sending it to the Senate for consideration.<\/p>\n
Days after moving through the House Judiciary Committee<\/a>, the legislation from Rep. Aaron Pilkington (R) passed the full chamber in an 82-5 vote on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Pilkington said on the floor that the state\u2019s medical cannabis law makes it so \u201cno patient\u2019s right or privilege could be infringed upon on the basis of having medical marijuana\u201d but that \u201cthis wasn\u2019t extended to concealed carry holders.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFederal law says gun rights should not be restricted based on patient status, and so no other prescriptions\u2014whether it be opioids or others\u2014prohibit someone from being able to have a concealed carry license,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cI just believe that should be no different\u201d for cannabis patients.<\/p>\n The Arkansas bill stipulates that a person\u2019s status as a qualified medical cannabis patient in the state cannot be used \u201cin determining whether an applicant is eligible to be issued a license to carry a concealed handgun.\u201d<\/p>\n State statute would also be amended to clarify that participation in the medical marijuana program doesn\u2019t mean that a person is a chronic or habitual user of a controlled substance, which could otherwise disqualify people from obtaining the concealed carry permit.<\/p>\n The state Department of Health (DOH) would be barred from disclosing a person\u2019s patient status to the state police as part of any investigation into concealed carry eligibility.<\/p>\n While some states have moved to more broadly preserve firearm rights for cannabis patients and consumers, this\u00a0legislation<\/a>\u00a0is more narrowly tailored to the concealed carry issue.<\/p>\n Arkansas does not require people to have a permit for concealed carry, but some Arkansas firearms owners prefer to have one because of the protections it can bestow when traveling in other states and because of the clarity it provides during police encounters.<\/p>\n \u2014 Arkansas voters defeated a ballot initiative to\u00a0more broadly legalize marijuana for adults<\/a>\u00a0in November.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the new Arkansas patient-focused bill comes as the issue of gun rights for cannabis consumers is actively being taken up in at least two federal courts.<\/p>\n The U.S. Department of Justice recently filed a brief in a federal appeals court as part of one ongoing lawsuit over the government\u2019s ban\u00a0preventing medical marijuana patients from possessing firearms<\/a>.<\/p>\n Many of DOJ\u2019s arguments in the brief filed echo points that the agency made in earlier filings in the case, including in a\u00a0federal district court that dismissed the lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0that\u2019s now being appealed by its plaintiffs. But the latest document places new emphasis on the \u201cwide-ranging consequences\u201d that the Biden administration says would result from a ruling that favors the plaintiffs.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a different federal court separately ruled in February that the ban on marijuana consumers possessing guns is unconstitutional\u00a0in a case that\u2019s also being appealed<\/a>.<\/p>\n Advocates have argued that the fight to end the federal ban for cannabis consumers isn\u2019t about expanding gun rights, per se. Rather, it\u2019s a\u00a0matter of constitutionality and public safety<\/a>.<\/p>\n Supporters of the Florida lawsuit have argued that the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Bureau (ATF) requirement effectively creates an incentive for cannabis consumers to either lie on the form, buy a gun on the illicit market or simply forgo their right to bear arms.<\/p>\n In 2020, ATF\u00a0issued an advisory specifically targeting Michigan<\/a>\u00a0that requires gun sellers to conduct federal background checks on all unlicensed gun buyers because it said the state\u2019s cannabis laws had enabled \u201chabitual marijuana users\u201d and other disqualified individuals to obtain firearms illegally.<\/p>\n In light of the federal court\u2019s February ruling on the unconstitutional of the federal ban, a GOP Pennsylvania senator recently encouraged law enforcement to\u00a0take steps to remove state barriers to gun ownership<\/a>\u00a0for cannabis consumers, focusing on medical marijuana patients.<\/p>\n In Maryland, a key House committee also held a hearing in February on\u00a0a bill to protect gun rights for medical cannabis patients<\/a>\u00a0in the state.<\/p>\n Meanwhile,\u00a0a GOP congressman filed a bill in January<\/a>\u00a0that seeks to allow medical cannabis patients to purchase and possess firearms. The legislation was also introduced in the 116th Congress but was not ultimately enacted.<\/p>\n Bipartisan Senators File Bills To Reduce Mandatory Minimums For Federal Drug Crimes And Limit Pre-Trial Detention<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Arkansas House Passes Bill To Protect Medical Marijuana Patients\u2019 Rights To Carry Concealed Guns<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The Arkansas House of Representatives has passed a bill to clarify that medical marijuana patients can obtain concealed carry licenses for firearms, sending it to the Senate for consideration. Days after moving through the House Judiciary Committee, the legislation from Rep. Aaron Pilkington (R) passed the full chamber in anContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":63504,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63503"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63503"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63505,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63503\/revisions\/63505"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Arkansas House Passes Bill To Protect Medical Marijuana Patients\u2019 Rights To Carry Concealed Guns<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"