The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously voted 3-0 in support of the government’s power to ban medical marijuana card holders and users from buying arms.

Senior District Judge Jed Rakoff said that the ban was justified because using marijuana "raises the risk of irrational or unpredictable behavior with which gun use should not be associated,” according to the Associated Press.

Under the federal “Gun Control Act of 1968,” users of illicit drugs or anyone “addicted to any controlled substance” is banned from owning, transporting or receiving a firearm. While it does not specifically refer to medical marijuana patients, it is implied that they are falling in that category of people, who can exercise their right to carry a gun.

On top of that, in 2011, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) sent a letter to federal gun retailers instructing them to not sell firearms to “any person who uses or is addicted” to marijuana. This applied to all states regardless of whether medical cannabis was allowed there or not.

"There are no exceptions in federal law for marijuana purportedly used for medicinal purposes, even if such use is sanctioned by state law," the ATF said.

RT