Second Amendment, cannabis rights nullified by ATF

Everyone knows that South Dakota is ethically bankrupt.

Second Amendment an absolute? Think again.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATFE) will make sure you lose your Second Amendment rights if you admit to it. From Brian Doherty's piece at Reason:

Merely having a state medical marijuana card, BATFE insists, means that you fall afoul of Sect. 922(g) of the federal criminal code (from the 1968 federal Gun Control Act), which says that anyone “who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance” is basically barred from possessing or receiving guns or ammo (with the bogus assertion that such possession implicates interstate commerce, which courts will pretty much always claim it does). While the BATFE has not yet announced any concerted program to go after people who may have had legally purchased weapons before getting a marijuana card, Morgan Fox of the Marijuana Policy Project says that it’s common practice in medical marijuana-related busts that “if weapons are present, there will be gun charges added on as well.”

The federal laws that restrict gun ownership were passed to deny people of color access to firearms just as the federal law that makes cannabis illegal does. Possession of crack cocaine has been recently leveled to mirror racial equality.

US Representatives Jared Polis (D-CO) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) are bringing a proposal [pdf] to create the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Marijuana and Firearms according to story published in the Denver Post. Gene Johnson of the AP writes:

The bill is based on a legalization measure previously pushed by former Reps. Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Ron Paul of Texas. Blumenauer and Polis are due to release a paper this week urging Congress to make a number of changes, including altering tax codes to let marijuana dispensaries deduct business expenses on federal taxes, and making it easier for marijuana-related businesses to get bank accounts.

Industrial Hemp and Medical Marijuana Industry Hits All-Time High in 2013.

Kentucky's efforts here.

State Senator Dave Wanzenreid of Missoula wants to add post-traumatic stress to Montana's list of medical cannabis qualifiers.

President Obama: end the drug war and legalize cannabis now!

Barney Frank holds George Will's feet to the fire on cannabis and the rights of consenting adults.

Democrats: don't let Rand Paul define cannabis rights. Lead or lose.