Ballot initiative wants to erase marijuana use from concealed carry disqualifier – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

DENVER — In November 2024, Colorado voters could decide whether marijuana use will continue to prevent applicants from receiving concealed carry permits.

Guns for Everyone, a pro-gun rights organization that trains for concealed carry permits and opposes gun restrictions, has begun the process of putting the question as an initiative on the ballot next year. It will have a hearing before Colorado’s Legislative Council Staff (LCS) on Tuesday.

Edgar Antillon, co-founder of Guns for Everyone, said he views it as a “freedom issue” given that Colorado legalized recreational use of marijuana more than a decade ago.

“It’s one of those silly things that has been going on for a while. We’ve legalized marijuana, but we don’t give [users] the ability to defend themselves,” Antillon said. “Alcohol users get to defend themselves. Why not marijuana users?”

Under current state law, sheriffs in Colorado cannot issue a permit to carry to a person who is “ineligible” under federal law. Because federal law still lists marijuana as a controlled substance, this prevents Colorado sheriffs from issuing concealed carry permits to anyone who is “an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance.”

The proposed change to the law, as it is currently written in the proposed ballot initiative, would amend Colorado law to include that “a sheriff shall not use a permit applicant’s lawful use of marijuana … as a basis for denying the applicant a permit.”

Guns for Everyone will have its first big…