Portland, ME —-(Ammoland.com)- Today, Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) and Firearms Policy Foundation (FPF) filed a “friend of the court” brief in the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, in the case of State of Maine v. Richard A. Tonini, asking the Court to hold that the mere possession of marijuana does not render a person prohibited from possessing firearms. The brief is available online at FPCLegal.org.
The case stems from a non-violent police encounter, where Richard Tonini, the appellant in the case, was pulled over by a Maine State Trooper for a traffic infraction. During the stop, the officer inquired as to a plastic bag in the vehicle’s back seat, which he believed to be marijuana. After confirming its contents, Mr. Tonini admitted to possessing two firearms. Mr. Tonini was charged with furnishing scheduled drugs and being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm. Ultimately, at trial, Mr. Tonini was acquitted of furnishing scheduled drugs but convicted of being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm.
The Supreme Judicial Court invited interested parties to address three questions:
- Can a person who possesses marijuana be determined to be “an unlawful user of or . . . addicted to any controlled substance” within the meaning of the firearms possession prohibition in 15 M.R.S. § 393(1)(G) (2018)?
- What effect, if any, does an acquittal on a charge of furnishing a scheduled drug have on the State’s ability to establish that the defendant was prohibited from possessing a firearm pursuant to section 393(1)(G)?
- What is the test for evaluating the constitutionality of section 393 in light of the United States Supreme Court’s decisions in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008), and McDonald v. City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742 (2010)?
“Based on our research, and as our brief explains, a person who merely possesses marijuana cannot automatically be deemed an ‘unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance’,” said FPC Director of Legal Strategy, attorney, and the brief’s lead author, Adam Kraut. “Nothing in the record indicates Mr. Tonini had previously ingested marijuana, was arrested for marijuana, or was ‘addicted to’ marijuana. Further, based on the Supreme Court’s straightforward categorical method for examining laws that infringe on rights protected under the Second Amendment, Mr. Tonini’s right to keep and bear arms cannot be restricted on the trial record.”
Support our work to help this important case prevail here!
About Firearms Policy Coalition
Firearms Policy Coalition (www.firearmspolicy.org) is a 501(c)(4) grassroots nonprofit organization. FPC’s mission is to defend the People’s rights, especially the human right to keep and bear arms, promote individual liberty, and restore freedom.
About Firearms Policy Foundation
Firearms Policy Foundation (www.firearmsfoundation.org) is a 501(c)(3) grassroots nonprofit organization. FPF’s mission is to defend the Constitution of the United States and the People’s rights, privileges and immunities deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition, especially the inalienable, fundamental, and individual right to keep and bear arms.
Hemp rope if it comes to that…
You have to look at the bigger picture. The push to legalize drugs is a two fold attack on our 2A rights. The gov. can say “using drugs makes you ineligible to possess firearms” AND, if they get everyone high enough, they won’t care about losing our 2A rights. Just something to think about.
General Jack Ripper, still denying women his precious bodily fluids.
Wow 6 downvotes. An all time high. 1. I wonder how many down voters smoke dope, use it as a lawful medicinal substance, or have a financial interest in its sales and own guns ? 2. I also wonder how many are psychotherapists treating persons with schizophrenia, council in addiction centers, or see first hand the effects of the illegal drug trade and marijuana as a gateway drug? 3.Any one in law enforcement for dope use and gun rights ? 4. Or are the usual clan of leftist trolls posting in favor of dopers and guns trying to push gun… Read more »
As far as the down votes let it roll off like water off a duck. As we used to say long ago: “It ain’t nothing but a thing.”
Will, hemp, not Marijuana. Hemp is still grown in other countries because the fibers are used for many purposes, none of which involve smoking it. The THC levels in hemp are too low to be useful for use as a drug. Virginia has begun to redevelop hemp farming. The hemp is tested to ensure minimal levels of THC, which, if too high, would make it illegal. Marijuana was not made illegal due to DuPont. Hemp was also banned because it contains THC and looks similar to Marijuana. There was no competition between DuPont’s synthetic fibers and hemp fibers, they had… Read more »
Federal Form 4473, Question 11 e. Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance? Warning: The use or possession of marijuana remains unlawful under Federal law regardless of whether it has been legalized or decriminalized for medicinal or recreational purposes in the state where you reside. The technicality they are arguing is a mighty thin strand considering that the statement after the question does state possession is still illegal federally. Also, Tonini admits to being a Marijuana user, which, since it is an illegal substance, makes him… Read more »
Both Federal gun and drug laws are unconstitutional.
How so. Please explain
The doorway to legally prescribed drugs is just an open door for teenagers to steal it from their parents medicine cabinets, as it is for street thugs who steal it in bulk from shipping docks. No matter what precautions you put in place, people will always find a way to subvert it. Stop drugs in one country, and they just come in from another via submarine in the still of the night on some remote coastline. If you saw the movie “Mule” with Clint Eastwood, if anything, it demonstrates how easy it is to get sucked up into something like… Read more »
@yzman, Hmmm, no prescription drugs or no teenagers … tough choice!
LOL. Now that’s funny! Can’t see how you separate them though.
@yzman, Keep the prescriptions in the barn or keep the teenagers in the barn? This is getting harder!
Man, I wish I could, but the cows will have neither! And the sheep, they want nothing to do with teenage boys, period! And I sure as hell can’t convince the chickens of anything. So yes, it is getting harder.
the crazy thing is that so many prescriptioin drugs are far more addicting, and debilitating, and intixicating, than marijuana ever can be. It should NOT be listed as Schedule One, or any other level of “controlled”. It used to be an endemic weed no one cared about.. until duPont had it made illegal. Corporate greed along with the Good Ol’ Boy club politics creates one of the largest industries anywhere on the planet. Strange…..
Agreed, but the feds are only concerned with illegal possession and use, not addiction in general.
So the answer is do nothing or amend the CFR making psychotropic drugs lawful for all ?
The founding fathers did not face narco terrorists, islamic terrorists funded by the illegal drug trade, terrorist nation states that are working to undermine American security and safety by drugging its youth. Marijuana is a proven gateway drug and contributing factor to mental illness, crime, and in spite of liberal states legalizing recreational use in the hope it would stop narco terrorists from smuggling marijuana into the US the Narcos have grown their US operations and destroying the environment with chemical pesticides and fertilizers, damming streams and killing proteced species. All to feed the addiction of Americas addicts and criminals.… Read more »
Jaque, Yes criminal organizations do use narcotic sales for income. Terror groups can generate funds as well. But the largest narcotics importer and terror groups that dwarf all others by several magnitudes are: the US and other Western intelligence agencies. And your correct again, that street drugs (and prescription too) are used as weapons. One of many against the US population. The enemy is within the gates, he inhabits all the Halls of power and the heads of every LE agency. But these facts are all beyond our control, short of a successful 1776 scenario where every lamppost in DC… Read more »
Yes. The exploits of the CIA are well documented. Is your thought because the CIA did bad things is justification for the rest of the government do do the same ?
The government doesn’t seem to need any justification for all the criminal pursuits it engages in.
It’s hard to be that ignorant in this day and age, but you seem to have really mastered it.
Another big government progressive endorsing the government’s war on the American people.
“Any user and abuser of mind altering substances as in marijuana must face consequences should they desire to possess firearms”
I feel the same way about the people who are addicted to caffeine.
You couldn’t be more wrong
1. Its none of your Or the Govt business what other people put in their body even if they know the risks. 2. You legalize these drugs doesn’t that take most the money away from cartels and ISIS? 3. You can’t see the govt is using drugs over all to destroy the Bill Of Rights and Making life a living hell if not killing innocent Americans? From Civil Forfeiture Laws to no knock raids that have KILLED innocent Americans because they keep attacking the WRONG HOUSE! Not to mention what they are doing to patients in chronic pain. My uncle… Read more »
@Irontiger T, Au contrar, mon frair, it is the “giverment’s” business! Health care is subsidized by the government. Thus the government has a vested financial interest in your health and what one puts in his body, even if he knows the risks.
All the other stuff are different issues.
What BS. It is not the Govt’s job to provide healthcare EITHER. With your argument, that would mean they have a right to confiscate guns, tell you how to eat and ban motorcycles in the name of cutting down on their healthcare costs. You are just as bad as the Socialists in this country.
@Irontiger, Yep, cradle to grave government is BS, alright! That is my point. But if you are going to ride bike, shoot guns, or smoke dope, then you better be ready to provide medical care for yourself.
I do two out of those three (the two more risky, cycling and shooting I choose not to use MJ), and have paid for ALL my health and medical needs out of MY pocket for four decades, total cost under about three thousand dollars. When OhBummerTax came out and they told me I am OBLIGATED to sigh up, I went to their site, entered all the information, and about died laughing about how much they wanted from me…. total premium for one year was above $8,000. Deductible, the amount I have to pay before they pay anything, was $2500. That… Read more »
Health care is NOT the government’s business either, so what you have done is taken two instances of government violation of their Constitutional limits, linked them together, determined that they are interdependent, this the government DOES have in interest in both. No, Gummit have NO business meddling in either one of these issues. End government’s meddilng in health care and with the same stroke end government’s interest in controlled substances. I can take an axe and whack off my hand, and government ulitmately has to put me back toegher again. Does that give government authority to restrict, limit, license, outrageously… Read more »
@Tio, No, I merely used mild sarcasm to illustrate a point. But the “vested interest argument” is one that it is easy to see that the government would use to diminish our freedoms.
jaque, please stop watching reefer madness and using it as reference material. marijuana/pot is not a gateway drug, if you have citation, please post it. i personally have seen alcohol do much more harm to people and families that pot. i do not smoke but know many people of all ages who do. it should be prohibited for minors to consume except in a medical setting as alcohol is. it is classified as a schedule 1 drug, same as crack, meth and heroin but does not cause near the same amount of societal harm as the others listed. as during… Read more »
Marijuana is a proven gateway drug and contributing factor to mental illness, crime, this is absolutely NOT TRUE, with the possible exception that the present connexion between marijuana and the criminal element (simply because the stuff is declared to be illegal, thus cannot be traded like Pez, ice cream, Dr Pepper, or cigarrettes, ALL of which can be addicting, or at least habit forming) The REASON the narcotraficantes continue is because the drugs are illegel, thus there is the insane risk, and attendant profit margins, that accompany trading in them. WHO is at the root of the opium and derivative… Read more »
Tionico, that is also the reason why we still have “moonshine” and illegal tobacco, taxes and regulations make the black market enticing to those unopposed to breaking a law or two.
Bullshit.
Alchohol and tobacco are the two biggest gateway drugs out there. Both have done infinitely more damage to society and humans in general than weed ever will. Legally prescribed drugs kill more people in a week than marijuana ever has or ever will.
I know, let’s start stoning woman when they’re seen outside the home with a man who’s not their husband or brother, hanging people for public protests against the government, and chopping off the hands of shoplifters. Now those are some laws I’m sure we can all agree on.
Now if you’ll excuse me I have a late night rendezvous with one of my goats.