Guns And Weed Don't Mix: Newly Legal Minnesota Already Got The ATF Warning Letter

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives on Tuesday didn’t waste any time letting current and future gun owners in Minnesota, where Gov. Walz signed a recreational cannabis bill into law Tuesday, that they will have to choose between their guns and their weed.

The ATF's St. Paul Field Division warned that the Federal Gun Control Act of 1968 prohibits anyone who is an unlawful user of any controlled substance, which cannabis still is, "shipping, transporting, receiving, or possessing firearms or ammunition." 

"Until marijuana is legalized federally, firearms owners and possessors should be mindful that it remains federally illegal to mix marijuana with firearms and ammunition," said ATF's Acting Special Agent in Charge Jeff Reed of the St. Paul Field Division, reported the local CBS News outlet. "As regulators of the firearms industry and enforcers of firearms laws, we felt it was important to remind Minnesotans of this distinction as the marijuana laws adjust here in the State of Minnesota."

Anyone looking to buy firearms must confirm if they are an unlawful user of cannabis on ATF Form 4473 during a firearm transaction. How does that work?

In 2011, the ATF issued an open letter to Federal Firearms Licensees to provide guidance as states began easing restrictions on cannabis. 

"The 2011 guidance reminds Federal Firearms Licensees that it is unlawful to transfer a firearm to any person knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that the person is an unlawful user of a controlled substance," the ATF said in a release. 

This is not the first go-around with the ATF and cannabis. Florida's former agriculture commissioner Nikki Fried sued the federal government for not allowing medical marijuana patients to buy and own firearms. She argued that, in the case of Florida, “No patient should have to choose between medicine and employment, a roof over their head, access to capital or their Constitutional rights.” 

Photo: Benzinga Edit with images by mwewering and PeterPike from Pixabay