Montana’s congressional delegation blasts ATF gun ban for medical pot users

I’d love to say that I was remarkably prescient when it comes to the ongoing outrage over the recent ATF letter stating that medical marijuana cardholders can’t buy guns and ammo – and that it’s illegal for gun dealers to sell to them.

But in Montana, that’s pretty much a no-brainer, as witnessed by Chuck Johnson’s story in today’s Missoulian about the reaction to the letter from the state’s congressional delegation:

Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, in a letter Wednesday to Attorney General Eric Holder and the memo’s author, Arthur Herbert, assistant director of ATF, urged them to “immediately reconsider this misguided effort.” …

Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg, through spokesman Jed Link, also criticized the policy and went on condemn the Obama administration.

“Between the ATF clamping down on gun rights and two new anti-gun Supreme Court justices, Montanans’ Second Amendment rights are once again under fire from Washington,” Link said Thursday. “Denny’s going to keep fighting to protect this critical right from Washington overreach, whether it is legislative, executive or judicial.”

Democratic Sen. Max Baucus also condemned the federal government memo.

“Our Second Amendment rights are a part of who we are as Montanans, and I’ve always fought hard to protect our right to bear arms,” Baucus said. “I’m concerned to hear ATF may be impeding the rights of law-abiding folks. Individual gun rights must be protected and I’ll never stop fighting to make sure they stay intact.”

Johnson writes that the recently formed Montana Coalition for Rights wants Montana’s delegation to introduce legislation to exempt medical marijuana from federal law enforcement in states that have legalized medical pot or are considering it.

Gwen Florio

(Image: Inquistr.com)