Maryland Lawmakers Discuss Bill To Protect Medical Marijuana Patients’ Gun Rights Under State Law [Video]

Maryland lawmakers in a House committee took testimony on Wednesday about a measure that would protect the gun rights of medical marijuana patients under state law.

If enacted, the one-paragraph measure, HB 296, sponsored by Del. Robin L. Grammer Jr. (R), would protect the rights of registered medical marijuana patients to buy, own and carry firearms under Maryland law, even people who use cannabis are still restricted from doing so under federal statute. Grammer and others introduced similar legislation last session.

Specifically, the bill says that “a person may not be denied the right to purchase, own, possess, or carry a firearm…solely on the basis that the person is authorized to use medical cannabis” under state law.

The Maryland Senate passed identical cannabis Second Amendment protection legislation last month.

The measure “protects the firearm ownership rights of those who qualify to use medical cannabis by reconciling the public safety and health articles,” Grammer told the House Judiciary Committee at Wednesday’s hearing.

Despite …