Pubdate: Sun, 14 Apr 2013
Source: Durango Herald, The (CO)
Copyright: 2013 The Durango Herald
Contact: http://durangoherald.com/write_the_editor/
Website: http://durangoherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/866
Author: Chase Olivarius-Mcallister

FEDS FIRM ON GUN DENIALS FOR POT USERS

Issue Is Cloudy in Colorado, Several Other States

Everyone shopping for a gun has to fill out federal Bureau of 
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives form 4473.

One question on the form is simple: "Are you an unlawful user of, or 
addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, 
or any other controlled substance?"

But for many in Colorado, where nearly 100,000 people use medical 
marijuana and possessing small amounts of the substance is legal, the 
answer seems complicated.

A sign hanging in a glass display case inside Durango's Rocky 
Mountain Pawn & Gun tries to clarify matters.

In bold lettering it says, "Federal Law Prohibits the sale of 
firearms to medical marijuana card holders."

On Friday in a phone interview, Rocky Mountain Pawn & Gun manager 
Chris Burnett said the store posted the sign because employees were 
tired of filling out gun-purchase paperwork only to have applicants denied.

Earlier in the week, Burnett said, "It's difficult to explain it to 
people who we have to turn away because they say, 'I did this the 
right way, I got a (medical marijuna) permit.'

"Meanwhile, people who are buying it from their neighbors can still 
go out and buy a gun."

When it comes to marijuana law, the states and federal government 
have been in an awkward stalemate, with states such as Colorado 
taking an increasingly casual attitude toward marijuana and the 
federal government refusing to declassify it from a Schedule 1 
narcotic - the same class as heroin and methamphetamine.

While the stalemate, in a broad sens,e is politically convenient  the 
Obama administration can look "tough on drugs" while the contrarian 
states suffer little for their waywardness  Burnett said it was tough 
on Coloradans abiding by state law.

"Personally, I don't think it's a good reason to lose your guns 
rights," Burnett said. "Stoners are more dangerous to a bag of chips 
than they are to anyone else, and more violent crimes happen with 
alcohol and other bad drugs, but it isn't my call."

Brad Buyerstore, spokesman for ATF, said in a phone interview Friday 
that being a medical-marijuana cardholder bars Coloradans from 
legally purchasing firearms under federal law.

He said ATF clarified its position on marijuana in a letter sent to 
all federal firearm licensees in 2011. While the federal government 
has no way of knowing whether applicants have a medical-marijuana 
card, Buyerstore said, the agency takes a grim view of anyone who 
"knowingly makes false statements in connection with the purchase of 
a firearm" and therefore is committing a crime.

Last week, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill to 
Congress that would protect residents who abide by state marijuana 
laws from federal prosecution.

U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Jeff Dorschner said the Department 
of Justice was also in the process of reviewing states' marijuana laws.

"In the meantime, there are cases involving marijuana that we're 
prosecuting because marijuana is a prohibited substance under the 
law," Dorchner said.

Though he said the determination to prosecute was made "on a 
case-by-case basis," and the cases he cited all involved numerous 
alleged criminal actions with regard to guns, drugs and lying, some 
fear the federal government is taking a more wholesale approach to 
punishing marijuana users.

Burnett said he was fairly convinced that the federal government had 
amassed a database of medical-marijuana users against which the 
federal government would cross-check firearm applications just as it 
does felony convictions.

"Just the other day, a little old lady came in, got denied and she 
had a pot card for glaucoma. I said that could be a reason she got 
denied," Burnett said. "She went out and canceled her card, then came 
back in and she passed."

Mark Sally, spokesman with the Colorado Department of Public Health 
and Environment, said that was impossible.

Only the state has that list, he said, and like all matters between 
doctors and patients, it is confidential.

Burnett acknowledged that in his experience, 60 percent of denials 
are reversed, and while neither the CBI nor FBI tells him why an 
applicant failed  for all he knows, it might be domestic violence, 
not medical marijuana  under Colorado law, applicants are entitled to 
know within 30 days of their rejection.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom