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Two Republican congressmen are challenging the basis of the conviction of President Joe Biden\u2019s son Hunter for purchasing a gun while being a consumer of illegal drugs, with one pointing out that there are \u201cmillions of marijuana users\u201d who own guns but should not be prosecuted.<\/p>\n
After a federal jury found Hunter Biden guilty of three felony charges related to his purchase of a firearm while being a user of crack cocaine on Tuesday, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) said he \u201cmight deserve to be in jail for something, but purchasing a gun is not it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are millions of marijuana users who own guns in this country, and none of them should be in jail for purchasing or possessing a firearm against current laws,\u201d the congressman said.<\/p>\n
This past December, attorneys for Hunter Biden called on a federal court to dismiss the case against their client based on a similar principle, arguing that prosecutors are applying an unconstitutional statute that would criminalize millions of marijuana consumers acting in compliance with state law<\/a> if broadly enforced.<\/p>\n The federal statute banning people who use cannabis from buying or possessing firearms has been challenged in multiple federal courts over recent years, with one case pending a review in the U.S. Supreme Court<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hunter might deserve to be in jail for something, but purchasing a gun is not it.<\/p>\n There are millions of marijuana users who own guns in this country, and none of them should be in jail for purchasing or possessing a firearm against current laws.<\/p>\n \u2014 Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) June 11, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n In this case, with Hunter Biden, the substance at issue wasn\u2019t marijuana, but Massie was also more broadly criticizing the question on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) form that deprives people of their Second Amendment right if they admit to being an unlawful user of a controlled substance.<\/p>\n Massie has long advocated for gun rights for cannabis consumers, and he\u2019s consistently criticized his party for failing to act on marijuana reform<\/a>. He also sponsored the first piece of marijuana reform legislation for the 118th Congress last year, proposing to allow medical cannabis patients to purchase and possess firearms<\/a>.<\/p>\n See form 4473.<\/p>\n \u2014 Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) June 11, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) also brought up Massie\u2019s post about Hunter Biden during a House Rules Committee hearing on Tuesday, quoting from it directly as an example of at least one Republican who\u2019s spoken out about the Second Rights implications of the conviction.<\/p>\n Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) also questioned the merits of the conviction against the president\u2019s son. While the congressman is an advocate for marijuana reform, however, he didn\u2019t explicitly draw that connection.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Hunter Biden gun conviction is kinda dumb tbh,\u201d he simply said.<\/p>\n The Hunter Biden gun conviction is kinda dumb tbh.<\/p>\n \u2014 Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) June 11, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Meanwhile, the pending Supreme Court case over the cannabis and firearm ban came from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which examined the federal statute known as Section 922(g)(3)<\/a>\u00a0that prevents someone who is an \u201cunlawful user\u201d of an illegal drug from buying or possessing firearms. The circuit court found the policy unconstitutional as applied to a man who faced a conviction after admitting to having used cannabis while in possession of a gun.<\/p>\n \u2014 Some states have passed their own laws either further restricting or attempting to preserve gun rights as they relate to marijuana. Recently, for example, a Pennsylvania lawmaker introduced a bill meant to remove state barriers to medical marijuana patients carrying firearms<\/a>.<\/p>\n Colorado organizers are also working to qualify a prospective state ballot measure that would\u00a0remove a barrier around the issuance of concealed handgun permits<\/a>, specifying that whether someone is an \u201cunlawful user of or addicted to marijuana\u201d should be determined \u201conly as provided in state law and regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n Last year, for example, the Justice Department told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit that historical precedent \u201ccomfortably\u201d supports the restriction. Cannabis consumers with guns pose a unique danger to society, the Biden administration claimed, in part because they\u2019re\u00a0\u201cunlikely\u201d to store their weapon properly<\/a>.<\/p>\n The federal government has repeatedly claimed that those analogues provide clear support for limiting gun rights for cannabis users. But\u00a0several federal courts have separately deemed the marijuana-related ban unconstitutional<\/a>, leading DOJ to appeal in several ongoing cases.<\/p>\n The Justice Department asserted similar points during oral arguments in a\u00a0separate but related case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit<\/a>\u00a0in October. That case focuses on the Second Amendment rights of medical cannabis patients in Florida.<\/p>\n Attorneys in both cases have also touched on a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruling from August,\u00a0Daniels v. United States<\/em>, that found\u00a0the ban preventing people who use marijuana from possessing firearms is unconstitutional<\/a>, even if they consume cannabis for non-medical reasons.<\/p>\n DOJ had\u00a0already advised the Eleventh Circuit court that it felt the ruling was \u201cincorrectly decided,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0and the department\u2019s attorney reiterated that it\u2019s the government\u2019s belief that \u201cthere are some reasons to be uncertain about the foundations\u201d of the appeals court decision.<\/p>\n The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma also ruled in February that\u00a0the ban prohibiting people who use marijuana from possessing firearms is unconstitutional<\/a>, with the judge stating that the federal government\u2019s justification for upholding the law is \u201cconcerning.\u201d<\/p>\n In U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, a judge ruled in April that banning people who use marijuana from possessing firearms is unconstitutional\u2014and it said the same legal principle\u00a0also applies to the sale and transfer of guns<\/a>.<\/p>\n In August, meanwhile, ATF sent a letter to Arkansas officials saying that the state\u2019s recently enacted law\u00a0permitting medical cannabis patients to obtain concealed carry gun licenses<\/a>\u00a0\u201ccreates an unacceptable risk,\u201d and could\u00a0jeopardize the state\u2019s federally approved alternative firearm licensing policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Shortly after Minnesota\u2019s governor signed a legalization bill into law in May,\u00a0the agency issued a reminder emphasizing<\/a>\u00a0that people who use cannabis are barred from possessing and purchases guns and ammunition \u201cuntil\u201d federal prohibition ends.<\/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 The Hawaii attorney general\u2019s office released new data recently showing that, of the roughly 500 firearm permit applications denied by officials in the state last year, more than 40 percent were rejected because of applicants\u2019 status as medical marijuana patients<\/a>.<\/p>\n DeSantis Launches \u2018Florida Freedom Fund\u2019 To Oppose Marijuana Legalization Ballot Initiative, As Campaign Reports Millions In New Donations<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post GOP Congressman Says \u2018Millions Of Marijuana Users\u2019 Own Guns And Shouldn\u2019t Face Prosecution Like Hunter Biden Did<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Two Republican congressmen are challenging the basis of the conviction of President Joe Biden\u2019s son Hunter for purchasing a gun while being a consumer of illegal drugs, with one pointing out that there are \u201cmillions of marijuana users\u201d who own guns but should not be prosecuted. After a federal juryContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":76166,"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\/76165"}],"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=76165"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76167,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76165\/revisions\/76167"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: GOP Congressman Says \u2018Millions Of Marijuana Users\u2019 Own Guns And Shouldn\u2019t Face Prosecution Like Hunter Biden Did<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"