Moreover, the letter affirms the illegality of a medicinal marijuana smoker purchasing weapons. Already, those who seek to purchase firearms or ammunition must fill out ATF Form 4473. Question 11.e. specifically asks: “Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?” Answering ‘yes’ legally bars the individual from purchasing guns or ammunition.

The ATF letter several times referred to marijuana as an addictive drug. According to a summary of the book The Science of Marijuana (2008) in Psychology Today, a person’s risk of developing an addiction to marijuana is roughly 9 percent, compared to 33 percent for tobacco users and 15 percent for alcohol users.

Former Gov. Bill Richardson signed Senate Bill 523, known as the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act, into law in September of 2007.

At the time of the passage, Richardson said: “I’m proud to sign legislation that makes patient care an important priority in this state…It is time for Congress and the federal government to follow our lead and help those forced to endure painful, chronic diseases.”

The New Mexico Independent called ATF for clarification on penalties associated with offering misleading information while purchasing a firearm; a response from the bureau is pending. In May, The American Independent wrote on the intense politicking that went into federal officials scrubbing information on the medical benefits of marijuana from a National Institutes of Health database.

For more information about the state’s medical marijuana program, visit the New Mexico Infectious Disease Bureau.

Schumer and his staff are still in the drafting stage, but the New York senator has shared salient details of the bill, which currently has no co-sponsors in the Republican-dominated House of Representatives. It would cut funding to states that fail to comply with all aspects of the federal background check system, create a national do-not-sell database of people not legally eligible to own guns and require both licensed dealers and private sellers to perform a background check on anyone seeking to buy a gun.

The first of those three is likely a response to the results of an AP review that were released last week. The review found that 26 states have thus far not fully complied with a 2008 federal law passed in the wake of the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre requiring all states to furnish mental health records to the national background check system. Of those 26 states, nine failed to provide a single name in two years. The remaining 17 all provided fewer than 25 records, a figure several thousand times smaller than where it should be, according to National Institute of Mental Health statistics stating that about 6 percent of Americans, or more than 18 million people, suffer from a serious mental illness. Already, the states that have failed to supply records could be hit with a 3 percent cut in federal justice funding; Schumer’s proposed bill would up that to 25 percent.

The latter two aspects of the bill are Schumer’s response to what he feels are lenient regulations regarding private gun sales. All states prohibit the sale of handguns to minors, felons, illegal immigrants, the mentally ill and disabled and drug addicts. However, “gun show loophole” laws in many states make it easy for even those legally prohibited from buying a gun to do so without seeking out the black market.

Such laws are commonly known as “gun show loopholes” because of the infamous ease of legally obtaining firearms without a background check at gun shows, but they in fact apply to any sale of a gun not made through a licensed dealer. By claiming to be selling guns from a personal collection and not being in possession of enough firearms to make that claim unlikely, anyone can legally sell guns to anyone else without performing a background check, as long as the guns in question aren’t of the type that require a federal license under the National Firearms Act (those being automatic weapons and sawed-off shotguns and rifles, as well as silencers and explosives) and the sale doesn’t somehow cross state lines. In all, 33 states allow private sales without any regulation, another four allow private sales with no background check for long guns such as rifles, and one, Florida, has different laws from county to county. In just twelve states are background checks required for all gun purchases: seven whose laws do so explicitly and five where gun owners need permits whose application processes include a background check.

Although state laws still make it illegal to sell a gun to someone legally barred from owning firearms, in states with no background check requirements, that law is virtually unenforceable in private sales. Gun advocates argue that the presence of legally acquired private sale guns is negligible in crime. However, a U.S. General Accounting Office report from 2009 indicates that the biggest problem with gun show loopholes may not be domestic at all. The GAO reveals that over 87 percent of all drug cartel weapons seized by police in Mexico were acquired legally from gun shops and gun shows in the U.S. and smuggled across the border. Of the four border states, only California does not have the gun show loophole built into its state firearm laws.

Schumer was forthcoming on many aspects of his intended bill during Wednesday’s event, but one aspect of it that he has not yet made entirely clear is the “do-not-sell list” provision, which he says would “provide greater incentive for reporting individuals who should not have access to guns.” Presumably, this is to address cases like that of alleged Tucson gunman Jared Loughner, who was assessed as at-risk by several professors and peers but never legally declared mentally incompetent or committed to a mental health institution, voluntarily or otherwise. But privacy and civil liberties advocates will surely bristle at the notion of any citizen being able to report another to a national database of potentially dangerous people. Whether or not the bill as drafted will address this remains to be seen.

Yet Despite Schumer’s enthusiasm about the bill, if the national tenor of the gun control conversation is any indication, he may not find much support for it in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives (if indeed it makes it out of the Senate). The American Independent News Network has previously reported on legislative attempts in Colorado and Texas to allow concealed weapons on the grounds of educational facilities, as well as a ballot initiative being pushed by a political action committee in Florida that would eliminate all permits for gun ownership and concealed carry. According to Florida state records, the ballot initiative still has yet to receive a single signature, but that’s no indication that such ideas exist only on the fringe of American society. A Utah bill allowing any legal gun owner to carry a concealed weapon without a permit stalled in committee this week, but its sponsor, Rep. Carl Wimmer (R-Herriman) is hopeful that he can get the bill passed after revising it. Meanwhile, Wyoming is set to pass just such a bill. The bill, which eliminates permits for concealed weapons, has passed the Senate and has overwhelming support (48 to 8) in a preliminary House vote. An amendment to the bill that would ban the intoxicated from carrying concealed weapons was voted down.

In the past four years, Mexico has submitted information about more than 74,000 guns seized south of the border that the government suspects were smuggled from the United States. But much of the data is so incomplete as to be useless and has not helped authorities bust the gunrunners who supply the Mexican mafias with their vast armories, officials said.

According to U.S. agents working here, Mexican prosecutors have not made a single major arms trafficking case. [...]

As a pillar of a $1.4 billion aid program to Mexico to fight the surging violence and corrupting power of the drug cartels, the U.S. government announced three years ago that it would provide Mexico with its proprietary eTrace Internet-based system. On Tuesday in Mexico City, U.S. and Mexican officials signed a memorandum of understanding allowing for its full implementation. [...]

But translating the program into Spanish took two years. And since its delivery almost a year ago, only a dozen Mexican agents have been trained to use it.

Efforts to stop money trafficking into Mexico are also reportedly less successful than the government had hoped. National security experts argue the best method to catch drug cartel leaders is to cut off their resources — money and guns — to force them into riskier, more visible ventures.

Drug cartel violence is responsible for more than 28,000 deaths in Mexico since President Felipe Calderón took office three years ago, including brutal mass-killings near the border. It is very difficult to purchase firearms in Mexico, and the Mexican government claims 90 percent of weapons it confiscates come from the U.S., the Post reports. (U.S. law enforcement agents — and gun lobbyists — claim the percentage is actually lower.)

So far, little of the violence in Mexico has spread to the U.S., experts say. But Republican politicians continue to push for tighter border security, claiming spillover violence is a serious threat to safety in southern border states.

Arizonans with concealed weapons permits will be able to take a handgun into bars and restaurants that serve alcohol.

That’s under a bill signed into law by Gov. Jan Brewer on Monday.

It would require bar and restaurant owners who want to ban weapons to post a sign next to their liquor license. Drinking while carrying a weapon would be illegal.

The last point is a nice gesture, but it’s not unthinkable that such a law will greatly increase the likelihood that people will, in fact, drink alcohol while carrying a loaded firearm in a bar.

Opponents have said mixing guns and alcohol could cause violence, but supporters said people should be able to protect themselves at businesses that serve alcohol.

It’s a self-evidently bad idea for several reasons, not the least of which is the possibility that bartenders might be a bit more reluctant to cut off customers who have had too much if they think their patrons might be packing. It might be a good idea to keep an eye on the number of DUI-related traffic fatalities in the coming months.

It’s probably worth pointing out that as governor, Napolitano served as a check on the unique brand of wingnuttery found in the Republican-dominated Arizona state legislature, and she used her veto pen generously — including on a very similar guns-in-bars bill in 2005.

Now, with Brewer — a conservative Republican — in charge, Arizona has no voice of sanity at the top-levels of state government.

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A statement from the Brady campaign puts it well:

“The Bush Administration’s parting gift for the gun lobby to allow hidden weapons in our parks threatens the safety of these national treasures and those who visit them,” said Brady Campaign President Paul Helmke. “We should not be making it easier for dangerous people to carry firearms in our parks. We urge the proper authorities to use common sense, and stop this senseless rule.”

‘Nuff said.