Attorney Richard Feldman, a longtime NRA member and former lobbyist for the gun organization, sees a natural alliance between gun rights activists and people like Goldstein, a longtime member of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).
Feldman, a Republican from New Hampshire, favors ending the prohibition on marijuana, which he sees as providing cover to those who would use an unnecessary law to curtail the Second Amendment rights of citizens.
It’s not an exaggerated claim, Sarah Gervase, the NRA’s assistant general counsel, said at a law symposium at the NRA convention this month. Gervase noted the Honolulu Police Department recently sent out letters to legal users of medicinal marijuana informing them that they had to forfeit their weapons. The letters were sent out after Hawaii’s first medical marijuana dispensary opened in August.
The Justice Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has made clear its intention to enforce the marijuana prohibition spelled out on gun purchase forms. In a letter to all federally licensed gun dealers, the bureau stated: “Any person who uses or is addicted to marijuana, regardless of whether his or her state has passed legislation authorizing marijuana use for medical purposes ... is prohibited by federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition.”
The problem for Goldstein is that the same branch of government that enforces laws - the executive branch -- is also defining laws through regulations. The DEA decided in 2016 to keep marijuana a Schedule 1 drug -- a higher classification than Schedule 2 drugs, like cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl.
There are sub-agencies of agencies that create regulations, Goldstein said. “Do we want our legislators to hand off their law-making duties to the executive branch? It is something we all need to be concerned about,” he said. “Federal regulations
