Don’t Register Anything

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Don’t Register Anything

Postby jdege on Tue Dec 05, 2017 6:51 pm

http://reason.com/archives/2017/12/05/dont-register-anything?utm_medium=email
Don’t Register Anything
Putting yourself on a registry of people who engage in activities, or own goods, that are even mildly controversial makes you vulnerable to abusive officials.
If we needed yet another demonstration that getting yourself on the government's radar is just a bad idea, Hawaii handed it to us in spades last week. That's when we learned that the Honolulu Police Department was putting the screws to people so honest—and trusting—as to comply with state laws requiring registration of certain goods and activities. They shouldn't have been so honest and trusting.

Like too many jurisdictions, Hawaii requires gun owners to register their firearms. Also like an excess of other control-freaky places, the state requires medical marijuana users to register themselves with the state Department of Health. As it turns out, those who dutifully abide by both requirements find themselves in trouble. Hawaii may allow the use of marijuana for medicinal uses, and even require registration of its users, but the state continues to regard the practice as a violation of federal law. As a result, Honolulu residents who legally complied with requirements that they enter themselves in both registries have received threatening letters signed by officials including Honolulu Police Chief Susan Ballard. These letters read, in part:

"Your medical marijuana use disqualifies you from ownership of firearms and ammunition. If you currently own or have any firearms, you have 30 days upon receipt of this letter to voluntarily surrender your firearms, permit and ammunition to the Honolulu Police Department or otherwise transfer ownership."

[...]

We live in a world governed by officials who love exercising power to punish people they dislike. To put yourself on a registry of people who engage in activities, or own goods, that are even mildly controversial is to make yourself vulnerable to such officials. It identifies you as a target for such people, and outs you in a position to be singled out for special treatment.

That's not to say you shouldn't smoke grass, or should avoid owning a gun, or ought to skip other activities the government likes to scrutinize, regulate, and occasionally penalize. Instead, even when there's legal risk involved, to the extent possible you should consider living your life without making yourself an entry in a database. When officials set out to penalize people who try to abide by the rules, breaking the law may well be the safer choice.

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Re: Don’t Register Anything

Postby andrewP on Tue Dec 05, 2017 8:35 pm

No disagreement that putting yourself on a registry if you can possibly avoid it is a bad idea. That said, anyone who signs up for a medical marijuana card either actively knows or has willfully decided to ignore that in doing so, they're telling the government that they intend to violate federal law, and any people who have paid attention to the content of a form 4473 know that that particular violation of federal law disqualifies them from legally acquiring firearms. Whether marijuana should be legal or not is up for debate, but the fact of the matter is that it currently isn't legal on the federal level, so anyone who engages in the use or trade of it is putting themselves in an actionable position, regardless of what their state's laws say (or do not say) on the matter. It's hardly surprising that the situation in Hawaii is the outcome. I'm honestly quite surprised that the DEA hasn't come down on people in states that have "legalized" marijuana, especially those states that have gone beyond "medical" use like Colorado.
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Re: Don’t Register Anything

Postby Sorcerer on Tue Dec 05, 2017 8:40 pm

Didn’t Dayton state that Minnesota is going to start a registry of people’s meds into a data base. I think I remember that the main thing was opioid meds, sycotropics. If so hear it comes. Knock, knock, were hear for your guns and motor vehicles.
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Re: Don’t Register Anything

Postby BigDog58 on Wed Dec 06, 2017 12:58 am

Sorcerer wrote:Didn’t Dayton state that Minnesota is going to start a registry of people’s meds into a data base. I think I remember that the main thing was opioid meds, sycotropics. If so hear it comes. Knock, knock, were hear for your guns and motor vehicles.



I took opiod painkillers for more than 14 yrs for my OJI. I was never afoul of the 4473, nor any other law, because they were prescribed. I did, have minor issue's signing off aircraft logbooks to make an aircraft airworthy during that time (for about 3 yrs of the 14). But, after getting a ruling from the FAA, it was never an issue. I was even cleared on multiple "Random Drug Tests" (Random my butt!).

As long as those using prescribed opiods, there should not be any issue with gun carrying, nor ownership. Pot, is another can of worms.
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Re: Don’t Register Anything

Postby Sorcerer on Wed Dec 06, 2017 8:16 am

BigDog58 wrote:
Sorcerer wrote:Didn’t Dayton state that Minnesota is going to start a registry of people’s meds into a data base. I think I remember that the main thing was opioid meds, sycotropics. If so hear it comes. Knock, knock, were hear for your guns and motor vehicles.



I took opiod painkillers for more than 14 yrs for my OJI. I was never afoul of the 4473, nor any other law, because they were prescribed. I did, have minor issue's signing off aircraft logbooks to make an aircraft airworthy during that time (for about 3 yrs of the 14). But, after getting a ruling from the FAA, it was never an issue. I was even cleared on multiple "Random Drug Tests" (Random my butt!).

As long as those using prescribed opiods, there should not be any issue with gun carrying, nor ownership. Pot, is another can of worms.

Gun grabbers can and will use ANY excuse that they think they can get away with especially now with the opioid epidemic. Just one more tool for them.
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Re: Don’t Register Anything

Postby hopkins on Fri Dec 08, 2017 1:36 pm

Any firearms purchased before you began using MJ would not be covered by this change, as they were legally purchased, and therefore are ex post facto to this change.
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