Question For The Lawyers
By Mitch Berg
A friend of the blog emails:
ATF Form 4473 question 21.g reads:
“g. 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 resideYes No”
If your neighbor routinely sees you setting on your deck smoking weed and you come home one day with a terrifying AR-15 does the inference that you lied on your Form 4473 justify them invoking one of Minnesota’s Red Flag laws to have the authorities take away all your guns?
I am no lawyer – I will await input from one of them – but I suspect “It depends on how much your county attorney hates law abiding gun owners” is at least part of any correct answer.





August 2nd, 2023 at 6:28 am
Hennepin and Ramsey Counties definitely won’t be “Sanctuary” Counties for people that are “merely exercising their 2A Rights” while also “just doing something that is completely legal under State law.”
This issue is the number one reason why I support decriminalizing marijuana at the Federal level.
August 2nd, 2023 at 6:38 am
Depends on who your dad is.
August 2nd, 2023 at 6:50 am
Historical “paper bag” test, only in reverse.
Skin tone is lighter than a paper bag = fail = enough criminal charges you’ll never see the light of day.
Skin tone is darker than a paper bag = descendant of Nubian princes wrongfully enslaved = pass = no criminal charges lest your cousins burn down the city.
August 2nd, 2023 at 7:48 am
Silly Merg, what laws are you talking about? There are laws in this 3rd world banana republic shithole country formerly known as USA?
August 2nd, 2023 at 9:23 am
Just a reminder that two prominent Federalist Society members wanted to overthrow the government by fraud.
August 2nd, 2023 at 9:40 am
oh look, Emery, the depraved pedophile and the person most likely to employ the (aptly named) Red Flag laws to rob other people of their Constitutional rights, wants to change the subject. Whats the matter you vile reprobate, don’t want to tip your hand too soon?
August 2nd, 2023 at 10:17 am
Speeders won’t obey speed limit laws, so by this intellectual bankrupt argument we should do away with any speed limits. This describes much of the right-wing rhetoric.
August 2nd, 2023 at 10:26 am
Black drivers won’t obey vehicle equipment laws and if we stop them for equipment violations we are likely to discover more serious crimes such as driving without a license, no insurance, driving while under the influence of weed, possession of a firearm and possession of drugs, all of which lead to arrests that make the racial statistics look bad. Therefore cops should ignore equipment violations.
That is not right-wing rhetoric, it is the actual reason why the city and county quit making equipment violation stops in 2021. The intellectual bankruptcy is on the other side of the aisle.
August 2nd, 2023 at 10:30 am
If past performance points to future performance, out state sheriffs will not enforce the red flag, and in the metro, the law will be enforced or not based on the immutable racial characteristics of the gun owner.
August 2nd, 2023 at 10:33 am
If your neighbor routinely sees you setting on your deck smoking weed and you come home one day with a terrifying AR-15 does the inference that you lied on your Form 4473 justify them invoking one of Minnesota’s Red Flag laws to have the authorities take away all your guns?
You’re kidding, right? Did this just occur to you?
That’s not even the biggest concern. How long will it be before some degenerate turns your ass in for strident right wing political comments on social media?
The very first thing the cops do when they arrest someone is take their phone, and look up your “Fedbook” page. They vacuum up every single text, picture or comment that in any way suggests enthusiasm for firearms…and I’m not talking about the 16 year old black savage holding a fanned out was of $100’s in one hand, and a sideways 9 in the other.
Posting pics of you and your friends holding hunting rifles on a hunting trip will be used against you. Hell, yelling at the Teevee because your sportsball team is losing will be used against you.
August 2nd, 2023 at 10:48 am
I am no lawyer, But I think Mitch’s question is an apple and oranges thing. MN’s red flag laws are not meant to enforce lies told on the feds’ form 4473.
Extreme Risk Protection Orders
Extreme risk protection orders, also known as “red flag laws,” allows a family member, guardian, city or county attorney, or police chief to intervene when someone is at high risk of injuring themselves or others with a firearm.
https://mn.gov/governor/newsroom/press-releases/?id=1055-578396
August 2nd, 2023 at 11:03 am
MMP
a fully baked neighbor with an AR-15 is what will make Emery wet his pants, but lying on the 4473 will be the charge the prosecutor can use to permanently strip you of your 2A rights. Its a way to legally SWAT someone who disagrees with you.
August 2nd, 2023 at 11:04 am
Red flag laws have the support of the majority nationwide. Minnesota citizens’ votes last November are paying off.
August 2nd, 2023 at 11:46 am
Red flag laws are the Department of Future Crime. From a gun grabber’s POV, red flag laws are great because they can never have proven to worked or to have failed. That’s why gun grabbers measure their success by the number of guns seized.
August 2nd, 2023 at 11:49 am
Jim Crow laws enjoyed majority support. So did burning witches.
Not much of an intellectual argument in their favor.
August 2nd, 2023 at 11:50 am
Mmp, That’s right out of the Obama playbook
Millions of jobs created or saved. No, we can’t actually count the number saved, but it’s a lot, trust us.
same as the number of crimes prevented, it’s a lot, trust us.
August 2nd, 2023 at 11:56 am
Let’s please add to the three fundamental principles of a democracy, a fourth, that any claim (of stolen elections) requires evidence. The complete absence of any reasonable evidence is totally astounding to me.
August 2nd, 2023 at 12:00 pm
Let’s we see the effect of continued excesdive marijuana use: inability to recognize evidence of fraud, living in a delusional state, obsession over past slights, tendency to blather.
August 2nd, 2023 at 12:13 pm
I know your conviction for child molestation makes you ineligible to possess a firearm, rAT. But does it forbid you from smoking a post-coital spliff with your daughter?
August 2nd, 2023 at 2:53 pm
big
three traits of long term(40+ years) marijuana users that I’ve observed in recent years are;
a)free floating resentment that attaches itself to the daily talking points, and
b) deep seated envy of those who’ve done well on their own merits, and
c) type II diabetes
August 2nd, 2023 at 2:57 pm
Legal question: will yesterday’s Trump indictment have a negative effect on future Republican presidential candidates’ ability to overturn elections?
August 2nd, 2023 at 3:10 pm
emery
you depraved pedophile, you may believe you’re slated for a position as Kommisar in the New World Order but historically pedophiles usually don’t even make it to the labor camps once the new regime takes over.
August 2nd, 2023 at 3:15 pm
The complete absence of any reasonable evidence is totally astounding to me.
The complete disregard, downplaying, and deflection of proven, verifiable, video taped, and statistically impossible evidence is astounding to me.
August 2nd, 2023 at 4:46 pm
“If your neighbor routinely sees you setting on your deck smoking weed and you come home one day with a terrifying AR-15 does the inference that you lied on your Form 4473 justify them invoking one of Minnesota’s Red Flag laws to have the authorities take away all your guns?”
The fact you smoke weed is a plus, makes you mellow and less likely to shoot up the school. the fact you brought home a terrifying black rifle Is enough to call the swat team, the media, and file for the red flag order. It’s terrifying. omeone was terrified. that’s enough.
August 2nd, 2023 at 5:11 pm
rAT, did your conviction for pedophilia and incest have a negative effect on your access to children in the future?
August 2nd, 2023 at 5:12 pm
rAT, did your conviction for pedophilia and inc3st have a negative effect on your access to children in the future?
August 2nd, 2023 at 6:21 pm
Emery-“the complete absence of any reasonable evidence is totally astounding to me..”
Good job, now do 2 years of “Russian collusion”. We’ll wait
What a clown..
August 3rd, 2023 at 10:00 am
The junta in power after a disputed election charges the leading political opponent with crimes carrying the death penalty and schedules the show trial to be held in a junta controlled city just weeks before the next election. This is:
A. an outrageous abuse of human rights
B. perfectly normal
C. Cannot be determined from the information given. Is the defendant a Liberal, Sozalist, Communizt, or member of one of the Powerful Families (Clinton or Biden)? Then it’s an outrage. Is the defendant Trump? Then it’s perfectly normal.
Dictators in actual Third World shitholes are cringing with embarassment at the state of US politics.