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Right now it's illegal for any cannabis consumer in America to own firearms under the Second Amendment. But a state senator in Nevada is trying to get a law passed that would defend the right of medical marijuana patients to bear arms in the state.

According to federal law, people aren't allowed to buy or possess firearms if they use marijuana medicinally or recreationally.

The Gun Control Act of 1968states, "It shall be unlawful for any person to sell or otherwise dispose of any firearm or ammunition to any person knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that such person...is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act."

Since marijuanais listed as a Schedule I drug in the Controlled Substances Act,cannabis consumers can't legally bear arms.

But Nevada State Senator Kelvin Atkinson (D-North Las Vegas) hopes to change that by convincing his colleagues to pass Senate bill SB351, which isaimed at protecting the Second Amendment rights of medical marijuana patients. He introduced that bill to state legislators last week at the request of medical marijuana patients who reached out to him and asked for help.

"People have come to me and said, 'This isn't fair. Can you guys at least hear us out?' " he told local CBS-affiliate KTVN. "So, it's an opportunity to hear folks out and see where we need to go with it."

Atkinson argues that barring cannabis users from owning firearms is unjust since people who drink don't lose their Second Amendment rights.

"You look at everything else an individual can be on, including alcohol...and it's not an immediate disqualifier," he said. "I think it should be looked at and it shouldn't be an immediate disqualifier for individuals who are...taking it medically."

The senator added that the bill doesn't address recreational cannabis consumers because they aren't required by law to identify themselves. Medical marijuana patients have to apply for and carry a card authorizing their drug use. Recreational users don't face those requirements in the state that legalized adult use in 2016.

But even if the new law does pass, its value would be mostly symbolic since gun dealers would still have to abide by federal regulations. Before people in America can buy a gun, they have to fill out an ATF 4473 form, which specifically asks, "Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?"

The form also clarifies that marijuana remains federally illegal even if the state an applicant resides in has legalized or decriminalized it.

Atkinson's bill can't overrule those guidelines, according to Jay Hawkins, Manager of Reno Guns & Range.

"That law doesn't change the guidelines that we're bound by, which is federal guidelines," Hawkins told KTVN. "All that law would change is the possession."

So a person could legally own a gun under the new Nevada law, but they couldn't buy a new one and they couldn't buy any ammo. So thanks to federal cannabis prohibition, their Second Amendment rights have been basically watered down to the freedom to own an expensive paperweight.

But that could change if Congress passes acannabis reform billintroduced to the House last month byRep. Thomas Garrett (R-Virginia). Rep. Garrett's bill would essentially repeal federal prohibition and allow individual states to determine the legality of marijuana.

h/t KTVN (Reno, Nevada)

Banner image: thelegislator.org(Nevada State Senator, Kelvin Atkinson)

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This Nevada Senator Is Trying To Protect Second Amendment Rights Of Cannabis Consumers - Civilized

This is the Colt U.S. M1911 .45 ACP pistol Burgett carried throughout his combat experience with the 101st Airborne Division in Europe during World War II. Nickel-plated and acquired by his father, the pistol was mailed to Burgett in Aldbourne, England, the day before D-Day.

A man should have heroes. And I am proud to say I have come to know some of mine. With familiarity only comes deeper respect.

I lost a friend, hero and fellow NRA life member last week, Donald R. Burgett. His books, starting with Currahee!A Screaming Eagle at Normandy, told the story of the enlisted man in the American Airborne during World War II.

I have been fortunate to spend time with some of my heroes, and through American Rifleman have been able to help tell their stories.

At the NRA Annual Meetings in Pittsburgh I had breakfast with Don and his family, including his daughter Rene, as well as Dr. Sidney Clark Phillips Jr., and his lovely sister Katherine.

Then-NRA-Secretary Jim Land had asked if these two World War II veterans, who were honored guests at the Special Presentations we were running that weekend, would lead the Pledge of Allegiance at the NRA Meeting of members. Of course, they were honored.

Don Burgett, left, and Sid Phillips (not pictured) were presented with Taurus M1911s by the company's CEO Bob Morrison at the 2011 NRA Annual Meetings in Pittsburgh, where the two NRA Life members and World War II veterans were guests of American Rifleman. They led the Pledge of Allegiance at the Annual Meeting of Members.

I recall Don asking Sid, "How do you want to do this?" Sid responded, "I believe we should do the hand salute," to which Don replied, as he wiped his mouth with the hotel napkin, "Then that's what we'll do." And shortly thereafter, they did. As they walked across the stage, they were no longer men in the twilight of their lives, a Detroit factory worker and a genteel southern doctor, they were a swaggering Army paratrooper and a Guadalcanal Marine. Their backs were straighter, and age seemed to fall away from them. They graciously took the standing ovation given them by their fellow NRA members, and then Don, who had been a sergeant said, "Hand salute," and a 17-year-old Marine and a 19-year-old paratrooper, more than half a century after they swore to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, saluted the national colors and began, "I pledge allegiance... ."

Before heading to New Zealand and the South Pacific to fight the Japanese, Phillips trained stateside with a Springfield '03. Nearly 70 years later, Phillips was still proficient with the rifle on his backyard shooting range.

We lost Sid Phillips in 2015. And we have now lost Don Burgett. I sat down to write about Sid a half dozen times, but could not find words adequate enough to express the gratitude our nation owes such men. Our nation is poorer for their loss. They were but two men. Humble men. Amongst millions. They did their part and more. They did nothing less than save the world from unspeakable evil. We owe our freedom, our way of life, to Don and Sid, and all those who served with them. And we are losing them.

We did TV shows with both Don and Sid. As well as magazine articles. You may have missed them in the magazine, but they are online (see links below). I was fortunate enough to come to know them. But their stories and their words are things every American should know. Know what they did for your freedom. And remember them.

Men like Don Burgett and Sid Phillips safeguarded your freedom. Make their valor, their sacrifice, worth it.

I interviewed Don for American Rifleman TV, and we listened to a man who jumped into Normandy, who fought to keep Hell's Highway open, who fought from a frozen foxhole on the road between Bastogne and Foy, tell us his story. He talked about liberating a Nazi death camp, telling the very souls the Nazis sought to exterminate, that things were different now that "America is here." And when he talked about what the Second Amendment meant to him, I watched the eyes tear and voice break of one of the bravest men I've ever met. Watch the video. Men like Don Burgett and Sid Phillips safeguarded your freedom. Make their valor, their sacrifice, worth it. As Don told me, "It's my Second Amendment." And it's yours too. Because men like him were willing to fight for it.

Learn more about these great men here:Video:American Rifleman TV: Don Burgett, Part 1 Video:American Rifleman TV: Don Burgett, Part 2 Hotter Than The Hinges Of Hell's GatesDon Burgett Marine & RiflemanSidney C. Phillips, Jr.

Link:
American Rifleman | The Keefe Report: "It's My Second Amendment" - American Rifleman (press release) (blog)

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Army Corps of Engineers Considers Reform of Second Amendment Rules AmmoLand Shooting Sports News A Trump administration could order the Corps of Engineers to negotiate a Court sanctioned settlement that would prohibit the Corps of Engineers from ever violating the Second Amendment again. Such Court sanctioned agreements have long been used to ...

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Army Corps of Engineers Considers Reform of Second Amendment Rules - AmmoLand Shooting Sports News

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The legislationHouse Bill 1169passed the House on February 21 by a vote of83-9. It passed the Senate on March 21 by a vote of 34-13.

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USNews reports that the permitless carry law allows law-abiding citizens 18 and over to carry a concealed handgun for self-defense as long as they have a valid ID and notify law enforcement of the weapon during instances such as a traffic stop.

According to the West Fargo Pioneer, upon signing the bill Governor Burgum said, North Dakota has a rich heritage of hunting and a culture of deep respect for firearm safety. As a hunter and gun owner myself, I strongly support gun rights for law-abiding citizens. House Bill 1169 allows citizens to exercise their Second Amendment right under the U.S. Constitution.

With Governor Burgums signature, North Dakota became the 2nd state to recognize permitless carry this year. On February 22 New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu (R) signed legislation abolishing a concealed carry permit requirement in that state.

The addition of New Hampshire and North Dakota brings the total number of permitless carry states to 14. The other 12 areAlaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Vermont, Wyoming, and West Virginia. Although a permit is still required in certain parts of Arkansas and Montana, the vast majority of both states99.4 percentallow concealed carry without a permit.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.

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North Dakota: The 2nd Amendment Is Your Concealed Carry Permit - Breitbart News

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He suggests this has happened as a result of the contention that private gun ownership is the ultimate check against tyranny.

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Hayes writes:

The Second Amendment, its most strenuous defenders like to tell us, is the ultimate check against tyranny.The argument is that an armed populace keeps oppression at bay, but its practical effect has been the opposite.If the people are always armed enough to threaten the states control, then the states monopoly on violence is forever in question and the state therefore acts more often than not as if it were putting down an insurrection as opposed to enforcing the law.

Note the assertion that an armed populace threatens the states monopoly on violence. Hayes misses the fact that this is exactly what the Founding Fathers wanted. The Founderswanted to ensure that the central government could not overreach and run roughshod over the citizenry.

See James Madisons Federalist 46, where it is evident that the advantage of being armed is one which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation. Moreover, the purpose of the armsas described by Madisonis to enable the people to band together and repel a tyranny.

Madison wrote, Extravagant as the supposition is, let it however be made. Let a regular army, fully equal to the resources of the country, be formed; and let it be entirely at the devotion of the federal government; still it would not be going too far to say, that the State governments, with the people on their side, would be able to repel the danger.

He makes the same point in other ways in Federalist 46, but what is applicable here is that Hayes and others who criticize strenuous defenders who say the Second Amendment is the ultimate check against tyranny miss the fact that this contention was nurtured by Madison. For those who disagreewhether they were disagreeing in 1788 or now, in 2017Madison invites them to look at the lessons the British regular army learned when it tried to expand the Crowns power over armed colonists formed into militias.

Rather than deal with these realities of American history and the documents that so clearly state the Founders intentions, Hayes tries to undercut the benefit of an armed populace by suggesting that Saddam Hussein was able to hold power, although Iraq had one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the world. Hayes does not mention that Iraq also had a dictatorship which only allowed the best guns to go those loyal to the dictator.

Slatereported this by summarizing the Washington Posts Anthony Shadid regarding Iraqs gun policy prior to the U.S. invasion of that country in 2003: [Iraqi] gun stores can sell only hunting rifles and pistols. But AK-47s, the weapon of choice, are provided to millions of members of the ruling Baath Party and allied militias such as the one known as Saddams Fedayeen.

The Chicago Tribunemade the same point shortly after U.S. forces toppled Saddam Husseins regime:

Under Husseins tough policies, most Iraqis did not have access to guns. His military, however, had a hodgepodge of weapons bought from Russia and the Eastern Bloc nations and taken in wars with Iran and Kuwait. Many were old and in miserable shape, but the Republican Guard received modern equipment.

After U.S. troops took control of Baghdad, looters and thieves grabbed tens of thousands of weapons from government arsenals, Americans estimate. Remnants of Husseins forces apparently collected the best guns and artillery hidden before the war.

Madisons point still stands. A well-armed populace at the outset is a hindrance to the formation of a dictatorship and a check on tyranny from within.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.

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Chris Hayes: 2nd Amendment Defenders Spurred 'Arms Race' Between Citizens and Cops - Breitbart News