Federal Appeals Court Once Again Rejects Blanket Gun Ban for Cannabis Consumers | Hacker News Reader

Federal Appeals Court Once Again Rejects Blanket Gun Ban for Cannabis Consumers

norml.org

25 pointsjdmark6 comments

Good. What's important is whether you are impaired, not whether you ever consume impairing substances.

If marijuana users aren't ever allowed guns why in the world do we permit alcohol users guns? I'd be much more worried about a drunk with a gun than a stoned person with a gun.

Granted, I'm not calling for a ban, but I'm more worried about someone with depression having a gun. My rationale is simply that there are a lot of depressed people, and the impairment lasts longer, thus the risk exposure is higher.

29% of people report having been diagnosed with depression in their lifetimes [1]. Major depression seems to be more like 8.3% [2], but once you start restricting someone's freedoms based on their state of minds, the treatment itself becomes stigmatized.

If I'm ever asked in an attempt to limit my rights, I'll say that I never have and I'll be convincing. The only proper way to implement this kind of policy is by using police reports based on credible threats towards others.

Self-harm isn't something that needs more policing; let's stick to better treatment there.

[1] https://news.gallup.com/poll/505745/depression-rates-reach-n...

[2] https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/major-depression

Indeed, and depression is what I usually bring up when someone says that we can manage guns by keeping them away from people with mental illness. My knee jerk response is that it's too many people, and impossible to make it actually work.

As someone who has partaken in smokes and drinks, and owns firearms, I'd not trust either person equally around a firearm during the period of their impairment, personally. But I agree that smoking a j on Friday afternoon doesn't mean I'm going to mishandle my firearms on Saturday. Just like having a couple of beers on Friday doesn't mean I'm going to mishandle my firearms on Saturday.

I wonder how this interacts with, or not, getting charged with a crime and possessing cannabis and a gun at the same time. It seems like they all really trump up the other charges federally, even when the crime doesn't involve either.

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