California Gun Rights for Medical Cannabis Patients

• By TMCC Admin Team
• October 14, 2022February 5, 2025
• Gun Rights

When voters approved the Compassionate Use Act in 1996, California became the first state to legalize the use of cannabis for medical purposes. Cannabis is now acceptable for both medical and adult-use (recreational) purposes in California.

The cannabis market is tightly controlled to guarantee businesses run securely, products are labeled to inform customers and are free of contaminants and children are kept away from cannabis.

With a doctor’s recommendation, a patient can obtain a medicinal marijuana identification card. ID cards for medical marijuana are optional.

If you have one, sales and use taxes do not apply to your cannabis purchases. ID cards for medical marijuana are only good for a year.

A card is available for patients and their primary caregiver. Any of the following medical disorders can benefit from cannabis treatment, according to your primary care physician:

• Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
• Anorexia
• Arthritis
• Cachexia (wasting syndrome)
• Cancer
• enduring pain
• Glaucoma
• Migraine
• acute nausea
• chronic muscular spasms (for example, spasms caused by multiple sclerosis)
• Seizures (for example, epileptic seizures)

Does Having a Medical Cannabis Card Mean Not Being Eligible for a Gun License in California?

California law does not forbid marijuana users from owning guns. However, using a gun in connection with an infraction like cultivation or possession for sale might result in extra criminal gun charges at the state level.

Gun owners are encouraged to keep their weapons locked up and at a separate location from their marijuana. Better yet, choose one of these two licenses.

For many people, it can be difficult to decide between possessing a gun and utilizing marijuana for medical purposes. Unfortunately, a choice must be made in this regard. 

In California, there is no necessity to submit your doctor’s recommendation for medicinal marijuana to the state or apply for an ID card granted by the state.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) rules protect your medical information from being disclosed without your knowledge.

Can You Take Your Gun to a Dispensary in California?

There are six restricted places in California where guns are not allowed:

• School Zones
• Public Buildings – any state or local public building without a license to carry
• State Capitol or on the capitol grounds
• Federal facilities – federal building or courthouse, post office. VA hospital, veteran’s home, or a cemetery
• Airports and passenger vessel terminals
• Public transit facilities

With that said, guns are allowed in a dispensary as long as a permit to carry is present.

In accordance with California law, a person must obtain a Firearm Safety Certificate (“FSC”) and show it to a licensed firearms dealer before buying or receiving a firearm. With some exceptions, firearm loans also call for the recipient to have and show a valid FSC.

Active or honorably retired peace officers, as well as those who have concealed firearms licenses, are exempt from the FSC requirement. The firearms dealer handling the transfer of the firearm must keep a copy of the FSC.

It is against the law to carry a hidden firearm or other weapon in California. But this offense won’t be prosecuted if someone has a valid concealed carry permit.

Similar to this, it is typically against the law for someone to open carry a gun.

Can You Consume CBD and Own a Gun in California?

Cannabis plants in flower and industrial hemp both yield CBD. Industrial hemp became a legal product in 2018 after the Farm Bill was passed by the US federal government.

Prior to the Farm Bill, hemp was classified by the government as a Schedule 1 substance, along with heroin and methamphetamine.

All hemp-derived CBD oils can now be purchased, sold, and produced in California.

However, CBD derived from marijuana is still subject to marijuana rules, so you must be mindful of your possession levels, especially if you are a firearm owner.

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Get a California Medical Marijuana Card in Minutes

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