State Cannabis Gun Right Laws won't work

These posts are about recent federal cannabis gun rights cases. The courts in those cases disagreed about whether the federal government could prohibit cannabis users owning guns. State-level efforts are being made to protect cannabis users’ gun rights. They won’t work and I’ll explain why. Even if they reside in states that allow recreational or medical marijuana, cannabis users do not have gun rights. These gun control laws were at stake in the federal cases I mentioned above. They will likely be litigated in other federal court cases, and unless Congress does its job and legalizes marijuana, has a strong chance to make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
States will continue to do what they have done since the late 1990s, namely take matters into their own hands. Missouri is a good example. It passed House Bill 85 in 2021, also known as the Second Amendment Preservation Act (SAPA). Interestingly, the SAPA does not mention marijuana. The law is more direct in its aim at federal intervention through gun control laws. Section 1.420 specifically states:
The following federal acts, laws and executive orders, rules and regulations are deemed to be infringements of the people’s rights to keep and bear weapons, as guaranteed in Amendment II of the Constitution of the United States, and Article I, Section 23, of the Constitution of Missouri within the boundaries of this state, including but not limited:
(1) Any tax, levy or fee imposed on firearms, ammunition, or firearm accessories that is not common with all other goods or services, and that could reasonably be expected to have a chilling effect on the ownership or purchase of those items by law-abiding citizens.
. . .
(4) Any act prohibiting law-abiding citizens from possessing, owning, using, or transferring a firearm, firearm accessory or ammunition; and(5) Any act authorizing the confiscation or use of firearms, ammunition, or firearm accessories.
Because qualified individuals could use medical cannabis in accordance to Missouri law, the SAPA declared federal gun control laws to violate those persons’ rights. Section 1.430 of the SAPA declared such infringing laws invalid and unenforceable within the state.
Before we get into the controversy, it is worth noting that there are at most some plausible arguments for SAPA under the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Reason pointed this out in 2021. “The Controlled Substances Act even has a clause that is a 10th Amendment-like. It states that if there is ‘positive conflict’ between federal and state law, the state law should prevail in areas that would otherwise be under the jurisdiction of the state. I don’t know of any court that has accepted a Tenth Amendment claim for marijuana rights.
The federal government didn’t seem to care much about SAPA, as you might expect. It sued Missouri and won. In March 2023, the state was defeated. The Supremacy Clause was violated by SAPA. Federal law preempted it. I won’t go into detail on this one, suffice it to say that Missouri lost.
Let’s assume that Missouri prevailed, or that a different state passed a similar bill. The federal laws require firearm sellers to still have federal firearms licences (FFLs). Gun control law is one of those laws that has led to this mess. This law clearly states that:
It is against the law for anyone to sell or dispose of any firearms or ammunition to anyone knowing or having reasonable cause, even a juvenile, that such person is a criminal.

(3) is an illegal user or addict to any controlled substance (as per section 102 of Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802)) . . . .

FFL holders who violate federal laws could still lose their licenses even if SAPA, or a comparable law, provided they were protected from them. In reality, the law is more symbolic than anything else.
The bottom line is that marijuana users need to work towards changing federal law if they want to have their gun rights restored. A potential circuit split in marijuana gun rights may be possible in the near future. Keep checking the Canna Law blog for more information.