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Submitted by NORML on Jan 10, 2012


The question about owning guns while being a medical marijuana patient will not be addressed by the Highest Court in the Land. A gun-rights case that began in a small Oregon town may have finally reached the end of the line.
Cynthia Willis, a resident of the tiny town of Gold Hill, Oregon had been a long-time concealed hand-gun permit owner. In the town of about 1200 residents, Willis, a retired school bus driver, was looking to renew her concealed handgun permit when the sheriff in Jackson County that oversees the permitting found out she was also an Oregon Medical Marijuana Patient. Willis took her battle to court in 2008 over the matter.

Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters argued that issuing the license would violate federal law, specifically the Gun Control Act of 1968. That act from 44 years ago specifically forbids anyone who uses or is addicted to a controlled substance from having a firearm. The court found that Sheriff Winters had no precedent to deny Ms Willis her renewed gun permit license based on the fact she was a medical marijuana patient. The sheriff took the case to an appellate court, where Willis prevailed again, then Winters took the case all the way to the Oregon Supreme Court. The highest court in Oregon also agreed with the lower courts.

Jackson County’s legal team were arguing that the Gun Control Act of 1968 was on their side, barring people who were considered dangerous or irresponsible and used controlled substances from owning a gun. They also said that a ruling in Cynthia Willis’ favor would force the sheriff to issue concealed weapons permits to people who admitted to using methamphetamine. They said where there is a conflict between state law and federal law, the federal law should prevail.

But the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that issuing gun permits to medical marijuana patients would not violate the federal Gun Control Act based on Oregon’s own concealed handgun licensing laws. The federal law in this case, the 1968 gun control act, only gives the states authority to set their own rules for gun ownership and concealed weapons permits, according to the Oregon Supreme Court. After that ruling, the persistant Jackson County Sheriff, Mike Winters had the county legal team prepare to take the case to the US Supreme Court to ask for clarification of the federal law he still believes outlaws guns in the hands of medical marijuana patients.

This week, the US Supreme Court decided not to hear the case, along with a similar gun-permit case from Washington County, Oregon. Since the state ruling, Sheriff Winter has had to provide concealed handgun licenses to Willis and other medical marijuana patients as a result of those court rulings.

NORML Legal Committee attorney Lee Berger, well-known activist lawyer in the state, had the case from the lower courts on up that ladder and said he hopes this message from the Supreme Court will force Winters and other sheriffs to respect the rights of medical marijuana patients. The case has cost the tiny county about $50,000 in legal fees.

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