Honolulu police tell legal marijuana users to turn in their firearms
“Your medical marijuana use disqualifies you from ownership of firearms and ammunition,” Susan Ballard, the new chief of police said in the letter dated November 13.
Police Demand Medical Marijuana Users Hand Over Their Guns Within 30 Days
The Honolulu Police Department is sending letters to medical marijuana patients warning them that they have thirty days to “voluntarily” hand over their firearms. The authorities’ effort, which has reportedly been underway since January, is in line with a 2016 ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that determined medical marijuana patients must forfeit their right to bear arms.
“Your medical marijuana use disqualifies you from ownership of firearms and ammunition,” Susan Ballard, the new chief of police said in the letter dated November 13.
The letter warns recipients that they “have 30 days upon receipt of this letter to voluntarily surrender [their] firearms.”
The Star Advertiser reports that the letter, sent to about 30 medical marijuana patients on Oahu, cites Hawaii Revised Statutes, Section 134-7 (a) to justify the government’s demands that medical marijuana users sacrifice their weapons. According to that section:
“No person who is a fugitive from justice or is a person prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition under federal law shall own, possess, or control any firearm or ammunition therefor.”
U.S. court upholds ban on gun sales to marijuana card holders - POLITICO
A federal government ban on the sale of guns to medical marijuana card holders does not violate the Second Amendment, a federal appeals court said Wednesday.
The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals applies to the nine Western states that fall under the court's jurisdiction, including California, Washington and Oregon.
It came in a lawsuit filed by S. Rowan Wilson, a Nevada woman who said she tried to buy a firearm for self-defense in 2011 after obtaining a medical marijuana card. The gun store refused, citing the federal rulebanning the sale of firearms to illegal drug users.
Marijuana remains illegal under federal law, and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has told gun sellers they can assume a person with a medical marijuana card uses the drug.
The 9th Circuit in its 3-0 decision said Congress reasonably concluded that marijuana and other drug use "raises the risk of irrational or unpredictable behavior with which gun use should not be associated."
The court also concluded that it's reasonable for federal regulators to assume a medical marijuana card holder was more likely to use the drug.
The Effect of Medical Marijuana Laws on Crime: Evidence from State Panel Data, 1990-2006
RESEARCH ARTICLE
The Effect of Medical Marijuana Laws on Crime: Evidence from State Panel Data, 1990-2006
Robert G. Morris, Michael TenEyck, J. C. Barnes, Tomislav V. Kovandzic
Abstract
Background
Debate has surrounded the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes for decades. Some have argued medical marijuana legalization (MML) poses a threat to public health and safety, perhaps also affecting crime rates. In recent years, some U.S. states have legalized marijuana for medical purposes, reigniting political and public interest in the impact of marijuana legalization on a range of outcomes.
Methods
Relying on U.S. state panel data, we analyzed the association between state MML and state crime rates for all Part I offenses collected by the FBI.
Findings
Results did not indicate a crime exacerbating effect of MML on any of the Part I offenses. Alternatively, state MML may be correlated with a reduction in homicide and assault rates, net of other covariates.
Conclusions
These findings run counter to arguments suggesting the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes poses a danger to public health in terms of exposure to violent crime and property crimes.
Citation: Morris RG, TenEyck M, Barnes JC, Kovandzic TV (2014) The Effect of Medical Marijuana Laws on Crime: Evidence from State Panel Data, 1990-2006. PLoS ONE 9(3): e92816. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0092816
Editor: Joseph A. Keating, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, United States of America
Received: November 22, 2013; Accepted: February 25, 2014; Published: March 26, 2014
