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04/16/2024 07:23 PM
Pennsylvania State Senate
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=S&SPick=20170&cosponId=24974
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Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2017 - 2018 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: January 3, 2018 10:40 AM
From: Senator Mike Folmer
To: All Senate members
Subject: Resolution: Protection of Gun Rights for Medical Cannabis Users
 
Those who seek to use medical cannabis have been told their 2nd Amendment Rights may be restricted due to federal actions. Yet, alcoholics and those involuntarily committed to treatment facilities for mental issues have no restrictions placed upon their 2nd Amendment Rights.

For this reason, I will be introducing a Resolution calling upon Congress to amend the Gun Control Act of 1968 to protect the gun rights of medical cannabis users.

The federal Gun Control Act of 1968 was passed to regulate the firearms industry and firearms owners. In 1993, it was amended by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act to include controlled substances. As cannabis is a Schedule I drug of the federal 1970 Controlled Substances Act, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives has issued guidance restricting the ownership of firearms and ammunition related to Schedule I drugs.

In 2016, my Senate Bill 3 was signed into law as Act 16, declaring, in part: “scientific evidence suggests that medical marijuana is one potential therapy that may mitigate suffering in some patients and also enhance quality of life.”

Twenty-nine states, including Pennsylvania, have legalized cannabis in some form and I believe the guarantees of the 10th Amendment must prevail: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

I also believe failure to do so threatens 2nd Amendment rights, which guarantee: “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” 5th Amendment rights are also threatened, which guarantee that no person shall “be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”

I hope you will agree and join me in sponsoring this important Resolution.


Introduced as SR253