I got to talking about this with a few friends, some of whom consume pot, and some of whom have LTCs. I don't care for the stuff myself, but the discussion left me with some questions.
The following things are well-established and very clear:
My understanding is that this would make you a prohibited person, prohibited from, among other things, possessing firearms. This seems like a contentious point, though, with friends arguing it only comes into play when purchasing firearms. Does this have a clear answer?
And, assuming I'm right and a pot-smoker cannot possess guns, two other questions them emerge. First: when do they stop being a "user" in the ATF's eyes? When they decide to not smoke pot anymore? When they can pass a drug test?
Admittedly, it seems unlikely that the ATF would bother with an otherwise-law-abiding citizen who smoked pot once and didn't do anything else. (But then again, sometimes it seems like only the otherwise-law-abiding citizens are actually charged for gun violations.) But I'm mostly interested in what the law says, not whether you'd get caught.
The following things are well-established and very clear:
- Cannabis use remains federally illegal.
- Question 11e on the Form 4473 therefore precludes a marijuana user from purchasing a firearm (without lying, which is no small offense).
My understanding is that this would make you a prohibited person, prohibited from, among other things, possessing firearms. This seems like a contentious point, though, with friends arguing it only comes into play when purchasing firearms. Does this have a clear answer?
And, assuming I'm right and a pot-smoker cannot possess guns, two other questions them emerge. First: when do they stop being a "user" in the ATF's eyes? When they decide to not smoke pot anymore? When they can pass a drug test?
Admittedly, it seems unlikely that the ATF would bother with an otherwise-law-abiding citizen who smoked pot once and didn't do anything else. (But then again, sometimes it seems like only the otherwise-law-abiding citizens are actually charged for gun violations.) But I'm mostly interested in what the law says, not whether you'd get caught.