geterdun2

I posted this in gun sec. also, but this seems more fitting. ill try to erase the other. thanks
hey all. I have a question that I cant find on the web. Long story short, I was in Alleghany county, MD, and was camping. DNR found some marijuana on me, gave me a little citation and let me be. Court date is june 8th. The officer said theysee it alot outthere and I will probably be put on STET docket - (which means they arent convicting me, they put case on "backburner" and if after 1 year I dont get in any trouble, it gets classified as a not guilty). I have always wanted to buy my own pistol for hunting/targets, and I turn 21 july 30. but today I asked myself:Will this STET docket phohibit me from buying one? Its not a conviction, but because it is on backburner does it mean I cant til the year is over.You guys seem pretty knowledgable, so I thought I would give it a shot. thanks alot

The Rifleman

Guns and drugs do not mix.

If you get caught DUI - driving under the influence in Pennsylvania. You could be classified as a habitual drunkard or drug user.

Which would screw your chances of getting a pistol permit or purchasing a pistol under the new gun laws.

Being on probation for a year would also keep you from purchasing a gun, as they do not allow you to own guns while you are on probation.

You ought to commit yourself to a institution - drug and rehab program on your own - instead of court mandated and clean up your act.

There is no call for a person to be a doper.

It's just a waste of time and money and it only leads to more violent crimes.

geterdun2

rifleman...thanks for the input. but i dont see a problem with smoking once in a while, if i may be honest. i dont see it as a doper, as long as its not all the time. i can/will stop on my own and if i thought it was extremely bad problem, i would commit myself. i dont think the courts will even do so.
also, i dont think STET docket classifies as probation. im not sure, but dont think so.

Rickmur

First of all the only legal pistol to hunt with in Md is a 44 mag. is that what you want to buy? Secondly, stet docket is like PBA (probation before judgement). You are on unsupervised probation (no probation officer to report to) for a specified period of time and if you have no other legal issues in that time frame there is no record, it is esponged from the record. The difference between the two is and I'm not for sure is a stet is they can try you on the orignal crime and PBA would just allow a guilty verdictfor the orignalif you were to get into another legal issue within that time frame. I don't know about the purchashing question but you can proablly get around it by asking for a reschedule and push the trail date back beyound your birthday. Best thing to do is ask a gun shop owner, he gets rejects from background checks all the time and he might know the answer. With that said I would do the right thing and let it play out within the legal system and not try to skirt the law. One more thing, pot is illegal for a reason.

slicendice

Federal Prohibitor #3- Is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance.

You may not be prohibitted by the state, but you would be prohibitted by the feds.

geterdun2

see the gun sec. for my follow up response on this topic.

Mdbowhunter16

Hey man dont worry bout it if its on STET docket. I Kinda got into some trouble like that. As long as your not convicted of anything you should be good....at least i was.

geterdun2

yea im prety sure im cool now. i have been told by few gun shop owners, mD state policeman, ATF members etc.

MD bowhunter - not to be in ur business, but when u were put onn STET (is that what you were on), was it drug related? did you have to answer the question "are you a drug user" i ask o nly to relate it to my question. were you actually on the STET at the time you filled out the application, or had it already expired? thanks alot

im really hope that im right about this. i would hate to have to wait another year lol. thanks alot buddy

Mdbowhunter16

Yea i was on stet for the same reason as you. I wasnt really asked many questions. My lawyer did almost all the talking. But When i did my application nothing came up and i was fine. But all this happened back in 1985. Idk if anything has changed since then.

geterdun2

good deal. so when you filled out the app, was there a line saying "are you a user of illegal drugs" and at the time you couldnt say no and they had no way of really telling, b/c you might have really stopped. im guesing it wont come up on the application, im not gonna lie about anything, but how do they know im a user, even if i am. im sure ill put no for that