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Unintended consequence of Colorado's new marijuana laws: you can't buy a gun.

Posted on 01/06/2014 10:39:46 AM PST by LouAvul

This was discussed on a gun board re a guy who 1) wanted to buy a firearm and 2) smoked marijuana.

For those who don't know, when you buy a firearm via a licensed dealer, you must fill out a form 4473. On that form is a series of questions that include a question about pot, viz. do you smoke pot. If the answer is yes, then you're disqualified.

Even though Colorado says the drug is legal, the federal government disagrees.

Here's the link and the original post. It took place in Colorado.

http://glocktalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1514900

I was at the LGS/shooting range today. (Note: "LGS" means "local gun store".) A guy was in there asking about buying a gun. He asked how he needed to answer the question about illegal drug use if he smokes MJ now that it is legal per state law in CO.

LGS was a little shocked that he was so open about asking. LGS said that if he is a user of MJ he needs to fill out the 4473 that he is an illegal user of drugs. He then proceeded to argue that MJ was legal by state law and the 4473 asked about "illegal drug use". The LGS said it is a federal form and still against federal law.

He then said he would fill the form out saying wasnt and illegal user. LGS won though, and said regardless of how he fills the form out, they have reason to believe he is a prohibited person and they wouldn't sell him a gun. Then they asked him to leave the store.

I suspect there are going to be a ton of unintended consequences re the legalization of marijuana at the local level. But time will tell if making it legal is an ok thing or if it's going to be a horrendous mistake.


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: banglist; colorado; libertarians; marijuana; medicalmarijuana; potheads
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To: LouAvul

“when you buy a firearm via a licensed dealer”

Actually, legally, ALL private gun sales now have to use this form via a licensed dealer as well because of the BS laws the kommies passed last year. It doesn’t look like many people are bothering to comply though.

So, legally, no one who smokes pot in Colorado can legally buy a gun in Colorado now. Period.

This is the kind of perfection that Fascists love: turning the entire population into criminals and then selectively enforcing the laws.


41 posted on 01/06/2014 11:44:27 AM PST by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
Why would a pothead need a gun?

I'm told that paranoia is a side effect of some pot smokers.

42 posted on 01/06/2014 11:45:00 AM PST by LouAvul (In a state of disbelief as to how liberals destroyed America in a mere 40 years.)
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To: frog in a pot

I heard a radio report that said they wanted to see your drivers license to make a purchase, so yes they have a record.


43 posted on 01/06/2014 11:46:32 AM PST by caver (Obama: Home of the Whopper)
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To: Tucsonican
if you don’t have enough common sense to fill out a 4473 appropriately

By "appropriately" you mean to lie on a federal form? I think I'd rather just confine all my gun purchases to private party transactions. They don't (at least in my state) require any paperwork.

44 posted on 01/06/2014 11:47:16 AM PST by LouAvul (In a state of disbelief as to how liberals destroyed America in a mere 40 years.)
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To: dirtboy
If you put the pot on your credit or debit card

I believe CC and bank processors are refusing those transactions (when they know what it is). A new business operating as a pot retailer would never get the account.

45 posted on 01/06/2014 11:48:10 AM PST by steve86 (Some things aren't really true but you wouldn't be half surprised if they were.)
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To: rarestia
By federal standards, alcohol is legal. Hell, prescription pain medication is legal when prescribed, and there’s an enormous epidemic of illegal pain medication abuse in this country, yet none of those addicts would be lying on a 4473.

You are correct, and you raise a frightening possibility. Imagine a governmental political operative (like those that contributed to OCare) that believes Form 4473 is inadequate - that added language correcting that defect ought to be included in the next 2000 page "Additional Consumer Rights" legislation.

This is a provocative issue because OCare gives us fresh insight as to how such legislation can be passed, to say nothing of the day-to-day lesson in the consequences of such legislation.

46 posted on 01/06/2014 11:49:01 AM PST by frog in a pot ("To each according to his need..." -from a guy who never had a real job and couldn't feed his family)
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To: tacticalogic
Give a stonner a gun and he'll take it apart and lose half the pieces.

Give a stoner a gun and he'll trade it for a bag of Doritos.

47 posted on 01/06/2014 11:49:49 AM PST by LouAvul (In a state of disbelief as to how liberals destroyed America in a mere 40 years.)
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To: FlingWingFlyer
“Recreational” happy smoke has its consequences.

Only if you want to buy a gun, keep your job, such things as that.

48 posted on 01/06/2014 11:51:48 AM PST by LouAvul (In a state of disbelief as to how liberals destroyed America in a mere 40 years.)
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To: LouAvul

If you possess a firearm, and smoke pot, you are committing a federal felony. Being a felon makes you disqualified from firearms possession for life, unless you can get the felonly conviction expunged at the federal level. And the feds are all about disarming the public.


49 posted on 01/06/2014 11:52:46 AM PST by Cboldt
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
We are told that potheads are peaceful people. Why would they need a gun?

High-ly intelligent too.


50 posted on 01/06/2014 11:55:18 AM PST by Fightin Whitey
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To: LouAvul

Same thing with every other state that has a Medical Marijuana law. If you have a medical marijuana card, you cannot legally purchase a firearm from an FFL. And, now that Colorado passed “universal background checks,” even private sales face to face must go thorugh an FFL.

Fools.


51 posted on 01/06/2014 11:58:23 AM PST by Yo-Yo
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To: cuban leaf

I’m unaware of a federal law prohibiting the private transfer of firearms. The left is trying to make it happen, but so far, no dice.


52 posted on 01/06/2014 12:01:19 PM PST by Blue Collar Christian (Vote Democrat. Once you're OK with killing babies the rest is easy. <BCC><)
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To: rarestia

Probably the same reason Cuomo in NY wants pot legalized. Just another way to trip fools up that were all excited about their legal dope.

Some folks around here have been duped.


53 posted on 01/06/2014 12:02:55 PM PST by dforest
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To: cuban leaf
it is legal in my state, KY, to buy and sell guns between private parties all you want without any sort of registration, etc. However, If you do, you are violating FEDERAL LAW

You're misreading the law. If your transaction takes place via a FFL then you have to fill out the 4473. The 4473 is then placed on file in the gun store's records where they stay for 15 years, then destroyed. The exception is if the gun store goes out of business. Then the gun store turns the 4473 forms over to the ATF.

But federal law still forbids the federal government from accessing those 4473s as any form of "registration."

And the state of Kentucky has no laws requiring you to "register" your firearms. There is no "registration" of firearms in Kentucky.

Now, if you buy a machine gun, that's different. But very few gun owners, comparatively speaking, own machine guns. We can thank (or curse) Ronald Reagan for that. Buying a machine gun definitely requires registering the gun. And the feds also closely monitor the gun owner's activities where tthe machine gun is concerned. But that's a whole different discussion.

You apparantly don't buy and/or sell many guns, do you?

54 posted on 01/06/2014 12:05:03 PM PST by LouAvul (In a state of disbelief as to how liberals destroyed America in a mere 40 years.)
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To: catnipman
ALL private gun sales now have to use this form via a licensed dealer as well because of the BS laws the kommies passed last year

I did not know that. I'm sorry to hear that. I went through that kind of nonsense when I was living in kalifornia. Find an ordinary Joe with a gun I wanted, meet up at a gun store, fill out a ton of paperwork, take a fingerprint, pay the gun store's transfer fees, pay kalifornia's DROS fee, then wait ten days before I could pick up my acquisition. Sometimes it involved a considerable drive as well.

Sorry to hear Colorado did that. I had often dreamed of retiring there, too.

55 posted on 01/06/2014 12:11:26 PM PST by LouAvul (In a state of disbelief as to how liberals destroyed America in a mere 40 years.)
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To: dirtboy

Lex malla, lex nulla. An unconstitutional statute, though it may have the color of law and purport to be law, is void. However, (soto voce) that ancient principle only applies in republics that appreciate the rule of law. Here and now, though, the you-know-who’s can do you-know-what to your dog, then to you, without legal recourse. So prudence dictates that gun owners should stay away from the hemp — or be hanged by it.


56 posted on 01/06/2014 12:14:55 PM PST by Unknowing (Now is the time for all smart little girls to come to the aid of their country.)
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To: ifinnegan

If the government lies and disobeys the laws doesn’t that give the people the same privilege?


57 posted on 01/06/2014 12:18:55 PM PST by fella ("As it was before Noah so shall it be again,")
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To: LouAvul

You play, you pay.

:-)


58 posted on 01/06/2014 12:24:20 PM PST by little jeremiah (Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. CSLewis)
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To: LouAvul
Unintended consequence ...

Someone intended it and a whole lot of someone elses didn't read the fine print.

59 posted on 01/06/2014 12:25:14 PM PST by Uncle Chip
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To: LouAvul

I used to smoke pot, decades ago. The stuff they have now is gazillions of times more potent.

Pot smokers have a high rate of crazyness.

They can be absolutely just as dangerous as drunks while driving, for instance.

The idea that it is harmless or benign is not only stupid, it’s dangerous.


60 posted on 01/06/2014 12:27:37 PM PST by little jeremiah (Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. CSLewis)
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