{"id":71382,"date":"2024-01-02T12:53:27","date_gmt":"2024-01-02T20:53:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/01\/02\/colorado-signature-drive-for-ballot-measure-letting-marijuana-users-carry-concealed-guns-could-launch-this-week\/"},"modified":"2024-01-03T19:46:55","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T03:46:55","slug":"colorado-signature-drive-for-ballot-measure-letting-marijuana-users-carry-concealed-guns-could-launch-this-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/01\/02\/colorado-signature-drive-for-ballot-measure-letting-marijuana-users-carry-concealed-guns-could-launch-this-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado Signature Drive For Ballot Measure Letting Marijuana Users Carry Concealed Guns Could Launch This Week"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Backers of a proposed Colorado ballot initiative to\u00a0allow marijuana users to obtain concealed carry permits for guns<\/a> will appear at a hearing before the secretary of state\u2019s office on Wednesday to finalize the measure, a last step before they can start gathering voter signatures to put the reform on November\u2019s ballot.<\/p>\n

The proposal is backed by Guns for Everyone, a Second Amendment advocacy group that offers free concealed carry classes to people in the state. It opposes gun control measures, including both barriers to firearm ownership and concealed carry.<\/p>\n

Under federal law, being an \u201cunlawful user\u201d of a controlled substance, including marijuana, means a person cannot legally buy or possess a gun. The Colorado group\u2019s proposal would remove state law\u2019s reference to concealed carry permit applicants being denied if they\u2019re federally ineligible to possess a gun. It would also add an explicit exception around marijuana use to a section prohibiting concealed carry permits for unlawful users of controlled substances.<\/p>\n

Guns for Everyone\u2019s co-founder, Edgar Antillon, sees marijuana as low-hanging fruit in the effort to roll back restrictions on guns more broadly, including restrictions around ownership for people who use illicit substances and people dishonorably discharged from the military.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we want to be successful, that\u2019s one of the ways to be successful, is tackling the issues that are most guaranteed to win,\u201d he said in a recent interview.<\/p>\n

Antillon spoke to Marijuana Moment last week about the concealed carry proposal<\/a> and its path to Colorado\u2019s ballot this year after a similar prior effort failed to collect enough voter signatures to qualify. He said he\u2019s optimistic, adding that support for the cross-issue reform seems to have grown in recent years among both gun-rights advocates and the cannabis community.<\/p>\n

Below is a transcript of the interview, which has been lightly edited for length and clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n

Marijuana Moment: After the last hearing, with the Legislative Council Staff, can you just kind of walk us through what happens next, when you can start gathering signatures, stuff like that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Edgar Antillon:<\/strong> Yeah, the next step is already in the books. The third of January, we\u2019re going to be having our hearing with the secretary of state, and they\u2019re the ones that give the final approval. Hopefully by next week we\u2019ll start gathering signatures.<\/p>\n

At this point you\u2019ve been on local TV news and had other media coverage, Marijuana Moment included. What\u2019s the range of responses you\u2019re hearing back from people in Colorado?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We on purpose, believe it or not, have been pretty low key with this this time around. As of now, the response has been positive and I guess to a certain degree encouraging. So yeah, it\u2019s been positive so far.<\/p>\n

Colorado seems like an interesting political combination of blue and red, a state where this might get some good traction. I don\u2019t want to put words in your mouth, but is that something you think about?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Colorado historically, we\u2019ve been a purple state, right? People who are born and raised here, if we\u2019re being honest with each other, we would never categorize Colorado as blue or red, but purple. It\u2019s the state of the Libertarian Party. I think this is very much one of those issues that is a Colorado issue. It\u2019s a freedom thing.<\/p>\n

In terms of next steps, I know signature gathering can be a big obstacle and cost a lot of money. What\u2019s the plan for that? How confident are you that that\u2019s a stage you can get through?<\/strong><\/p>\n

For us, we learned from the first time that that\u2019s probably the biggest obstacle, is the signature gathering. But I think this time we\u2019ve got a better network than we had before. Most of the gun stores are more open to this idea than they were the first time. More dispensaries are open to this idea than they were the first time. So our network has grown. Overall, we\u2019re pretty optimistic on the signature gathering.<\/p>\n

I think that\u2019s an interesting detail about gun stores and dispensaries. Was it just that they didn\u2019t want to get involved in politics, or was it that they didn\u2019t like being associated with the other issue?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was so close to the legalization of marijuana that it was just a relatively new thing. And I think everybody was just not wanting to poke the bear, so to speak. And so now, many years removed from the legalization of marijuana, it\u2019s almost a non-issue. It\u2019s so normalized that people don\u2019t even think of that as a bad thing.<\/p>\n

On that note, I know your proposal is about concealed carry permits, but we\u2019ve been seeing a lot more activity recently around the federal law barring gun ownership by people who use illegal drugs. Not only because of Hunter Biden\u2019s federal case about possessing a gun while being a cocaine user, but, as you probably know, there are different circuit courts right now dealing with this question. What\u2019s your take on what\u2019s happening more broadly in terms of trying to make these two issues work together?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I mean, it\u2019s always an encouraging thing when the conversation\u2019s being had. If there\u2019s no conversation being had, obviously nothing is moving forward\u2014or in any direction. And we kind of half-jokingly talk about Hunter Biden all the time, but he was a help to the Second Amendment community, whether we like it or not. And that\u2019s because it did bring up the conversation. It did bring up questions. It started getting people to discuss this a lot more and be serious about our freedoms and how we approach it in the future. That was encouraging. We\u2019re not winning in every sector. It\u2019s moving slowly. But the conversation\u2019s being had, and it seems like it\u2019s moving in the right direction.<\/p>\n

I imagine you\u2019ve talked to a lot of people about this issue. How concerned are gun owners who use cannabis in Colorado about the risk of some sort of federal enforcement?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not really something they think about too much. We feel here in Colorado about the federal stuff that it becomes a very difficult process for the federal government to go after somebody who\u2019s got a joint and a gun and prosecute that, right? Early on in the state of Colorado, the feds were very involved. Ultimately, we see that they kind of disappeared and are no longer operating the way they were operating. Before, we saw a lot of raids and they tried to push weight around. And I think the federal government has really known that this is a 10th Amendment issue. They\u2019re just letting the states do what they do. So they\u2019re not really too worried about the federal issue at all.<\/p>\n

Colorado is now one of a few states that has moved to legalize psychedelics<\/a>. Do you see that as a next stage for you in terms of expanding Second Amendment rights for people who consume things like psilocybin? Or what are your thoughts as the substances that are legal continue to change?<\/strong><\/p>\n

If we could, we would get rid of all restrictions for firearms. But in the state of Colorado, unfortunately, the ballot initiative has to be a single subject. So we definitely don\u2019t want to tackle more than one issue at this very moment, and that\u2019s mostly because of legal ramifications, right? If we move forward with with certain language that allows people that take some psychedelics, or people who are dishonorably discharged, or any of the other silly restrictions on possession of firearms, then it becomes a multiple-subjects issue. So, no. I mean, if we could, we would get rid of every single restriction there is for firearms.<\/p>\n

Maybe the follow-up question is: Why start with cannabis? If there\u2019s so many issues, how did you pick that one as the place to start?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I mean, if we\u2019re being honest, it\u2019s the low-hanging fruit, the easy one. It almost seems silly that we\u2019re having to do that in 2023, with a majority of the places that you go to, it\u2019s either decriminalized or it\u2019s legal. So it\u2019s\u2014especially here in Colorado\u2014just silly that it\u2019s still a thing. If we want to be successful, that\u2019s one of the ways to be successful, is tackling the issues that are most guaranteed to win. And this is one of them, and hopefully we build traction on that.<\/p>\n

Have you thought at all about trying to challenge this at the courts instead of the ballot box?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The way we\u2019re set up here in the state of Colorado, it\u2019s pretty difficult for us to make it to the Supreme Court. Historically, we have not been able to make it to the Supreme Court through our circuit. Our circuit just isn\u2019t famous for passing it on to the Supreme Court. We have Rocky Mountain Gun Owners here, who has multiple times tried to sue in court, and it always seems to stall in the same place and then never moves forward. So it kinds seems like a moot point.<\/p>\n

What else should I have asked you about that I might not know to ask?<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the things that a lot of people are afraid to talk about is the safety issue\u2014people who consume marijuana being safe with with firearms. And one of the things that we have to acknowledge and consider is that freedom is not safe. Freedom is, unfortunately, dangerous. I don\u2019t necessarily consider marijuana users a dangerous class of human beings. In fact, historically speaking, they\u2019re a lot more safe than people who consume alcohol. But I think that\u2019s the wrong way to think about freedom, right? Freedom is not about safety. Freedom is about you being able to partake in what you want to partake and buy what you want to buy, so long as you\u2019re not hurting other human beings. And if that does happen, then the consequences will be there for for you doing that. But until that happens, you ought to be free to enjoy life\u2019s pleasures without restriction.<\/p>\n

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More States Set To Legalize Marijuana And Psychedelics In 2024 As Federal Cannabis Scheduling Review Concludes<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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The post Colorado Signature Drive For Ballot Measure Letting Marijuana Users Carry Concealed Guns Could Launch This Week<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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Backers of a proposed Colorado ballot initiative to\u00a0allow marijuana users to obtain concealed carry permits for guns will appear at a hearing before the secretary of state\u2019s office on Wednesday to finalize the measure, a last step before they can start gathering voter signatures to put the reform on November\u2019sContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"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\/71382"}],"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\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71382"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71383,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71382\/revisions\/71383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}