Guns + Roommates using Marijuana

[Abraham]

Hey man, so what?

Just because I live in a time bomb environment I'm not afraid.

Dope smoking roomies are no biggee in this day and age.

When my roomies do get caught, it'll be obvious I'm not a weed smoker, right?

Hey, hey, what are you doing with those cuffs...stop it, stop it, snuffle, cough, cry....

[twomillenium]

Your choice to leave the firearm at home (I am assuming parent home) is a good one under the circumstance that you have chosen to remain in. If busted, you may or may not be able to prove it was not your pot and you didn't inhale, but it will probably require an expensive attorney.

One last bit of advise, do not give your roommates rides in your automobile or loan it to them. If I have to explain why, that would explain why you are not seemly listening to the endless advise you have been given. One more time LEAVE NOW!

Oh and welcome to the forum.

[cmgee67]

Welcome to the forum.

Now as others were saying GET OUT NOW! Quit worrying about a little stress right now and move. If you are serious about your life and future stay away from drugs. The kind of people who do them are a crap magnet and crap magnets get caught and other crap gets sucked in with them. You should have not allowed your self to get in the situation in the first place. That was irresponsible on your part especially if you knew they were like that. Having a gun is a big responsibility and one that is not to be taken lightly at all. You should do what's best for you. Idc if these guys were lifetime buddies you should distance yourself. You asked our opinion and your getting it. I would not ever advise just storing in your car because of the possibility of it being stolen. Also never let those guys ride in your vehicle and you never ride with them. If they ask why tell them you refuse to be in contact with drugs oh wait you live with it... but if they are in your car they could ditch something in it.

My friend listen this is a bear trap and one that is waxed and ready to shut quicker than you can say glock perfection. So please get out of there and get your LTC and start carrying as soon as possible. If this was half as important to you as it is to me then you'd move. I would not live somewhere where I cannot have my gun. These days it's too important not to have one. Btw I'm in college and I understand how stressful it is. But two weeks of stress looking for a place is better than 5 years without your LTC.

This post was not meant meanly or rude just my opinion. But you know what they say about those. Everybody's got em

[TexasJohnBoy]

Welcome to the forum.

Now as others were saying GET OUT NOW! Quit worrying about a little stress right now and move. If you are serious about your life and future stay away from drugs. The kind of people who do them are a crap magnet and crap magnets get caught and other crap gets sucked in with them. You should have not allowed your self to get in the situation in the first place. That was irresponsible on your part especially if you knew they were like that. Having a gun is a big responsibility and one that is not to be taken lightly at all. You should do what's best for you. Idc if these guys were lifetime buddies you should distance yourself. You asked our opinion and your getting it. I would not ever advise just storing in your car because of the possibility of it being stolen. Also never let those guys ride in your vehicle and you never ride with them. If they ask why tell them you refuse to be in contact with drugs oh wait you live with it... but if they are in your car they could ditch something in it.

My friend listen this is a bear trap and one that is waxed and ready to shut quicker than you can say glock perfection. So please get out of there and get your LTC and start carrying as soon as possible. If this was half as important to you as it is to me then you'd move. I would not live somewhere where I cannot have my gun. These days it's too important not to have one. Btw I'm in college and I understand how stressful it is. But two weeks of stress looking for a place is better than 5 years without your LTC.

This post was not meant meanly or rude just my opinion. But you know what they say about those. Everybody's got em

If this is the kind of apartment complex I think it is, he may not have had any say in the room mates. You lease the room from the complex; each apartment has multiple bedrooms in an apartment and a shared common space; the complex just puts people in the rooms randomly uless you ask for your room mates specifically.

I lived in one of these kind of units when I was a freshman. I didn't live in one again after that.

[ELB]

If this is the kind of apartment complex I think it is, he may not have had any say in the room mates. You lease the room from the complex; each apartment has multiple bedrooms in an apartment and a shared common space; the complex just puts people in the rooms randomly uless you ask for your room mates specifically.

I lived in one of these kind of units when I was a freshman. I didn't live in one again after that.

If this is indeed the case, if he was "issued" some pot-smoking room mates by the university, then I'll change my advice to "go blow the whistle on these clowns now." If he can't leave, make them leave.

[Redneck_Buddha]

Don't post the question if you're not willing to listen to the forum members. It would be a damn shame for you to get caught up in a bust when you've never partaken of the substance.

I might add that even if marijuana seems benign and these are good guys, believe me I know that pot does tend to attract different kinds of misadventure to a home, other than just the use of the illegal substance by itself. Even pot-heads who are good guys tend to know other pot-heads who have deeper issues of involvement with more serious illegal activities, and you could end up in a robbery with a gun to your head. And good luck if you have to use your weapon to try to stop such a crime and have it be considered a clean shoot in a house full of reefer.

[jb2012]

I'll give you real advice because I feel like everything stated so far is comig from the point of view of a person older than me and you with a well established career and income. Number one, without prior knowledge of your roommates before you move in, the odds of you moving in with people that 100% stay away from drugs is slim at the very best. Y'all older folks can laugh at me and be naive about it, but the truth is probably 80%+ of the population uses drugs recreationally at some point or another, ESPECIALLY in the Austin and surrounding area. Since you referred to the rest of your lease as "this semester" I assume you are a student? I know right now there is absolutely no way I could afford to break my lease/pay off my lease/ "get out" etc. and I find the advice of "just get out" to be awfully useless. Obviously if he could just get out he would have done that already.

My advice:Obviously you're not about to bust them for smoking pot, as long as they are only using mj and nothing above that, I'd buy a safe for your car and lay low. You're probably going to be fine as long as they keep it in the house and y'all don't give the police a reason to come inside. The next thing I would do is ask that they keep that stuff in their rooms. When it's time to sign a new lease you should find some people with the same morals, values, and goals. Good luck buddy!

Edit: If there is ANY kind of commerce going on in your apartment you have the right to stop that, and you should not put up with that.

[Bitter Clinger]

1.0. Get the drug users evicted or evict them yourself
2.0 Turn the drug users in to local authorities
3.0 Move out, dealing with short term stress of moving will be less painful than dealing with the constant stress all semester long of having your LTC, living with lawbreakers, and worrying about your firearm out in the parking lot
4.0 if you ignore 1-3 above, do not ever consider applying for a position where you will require any kind of security clearance or background check, lie detector test, etc.

100%! There is no reason to hang out with drug abusers and their criminal connections at all and the risk getting into legal escapades is just not worth it. It is not a question if the will drag you down it is a question of when.

Drug usage is cause to be denied for gun purchase. If caught and convicted of drug use, don't plan on a number of careers, including law or law enforcement.

[Salty1]

something to remember, You will be judged by the company you keep........

[mrvmax]

I'll give you real advice because I feel like everything stated so far is comig from the point of view of a person older than me and you with a well established career and income. Number one, without prior knowledge of your roommates before you move in, the odds of you moving in with people that 100% stay away from drugs is slim at the very best. Y'all older folks can laugh at me and be naive about it, but the truth is probably 80%+ of the population uses drugs recreationally at some point or another, ESPECIALLY in the Austin and surrounding area. Since you referred to the rest of your lease as "this semester" I assume you are a student? I know right now there is absolutely no way I could afford to break my lease/pay off my lease/ "get out" etc. and I find the advice of "just get out" to be awfully useless. Obviously if he could just get out he would have done that already.

My advice:Obviously you're not about to bust them for smoking pot, as long as they are only using mj and nothing above that, I'd buy a safe for your car and lay low. You're probably going to be fine as long as they keep it in the house and y'all don't give the police a reason to come inside. The next thing I would do is ask that they keep that stuff in their rooms. When it's time to sign a new lease you should find some people with the same morals, values, and goals. Good luck buddy!

Edit: If there is ANY kind of commerce going on in your apartment you have the right to stop that, and you should not put up with that.

I am pretty confidant I am older than both of you so here is some more unwanted advice and I am not trying to be derogatory. At some point we all need to grow up and take responsibility and live like an adult and that involves making hard decisions, it is the same thing I tell my daughter. If you want an LTC then you need to abide by the law or suffer the consequences. Obviously from your perspective 80% of the people you know do illegal drugs but that is not the case for everyone I am around. The fact is that in my occupation any kind of illegal drug use will result in instant termination from a high paying job and 99% of people will not take that risk so they do not do any illegal drugs nor are they in a situation where being around them would jeopardize their employment. Yes, there is always a small portion that will and suffer the consequences, I have seen people booted out of the military for it, people fired from my current employer for it and in my religious volunteering in the county jail I have spoken with people that lost their marriage, successful business and freedom for it. There will always be that small group willing to lose something over it. I can see your point that a large number of college kids do it (well even our current president freely admits it and we can see the evidence of that on the innerwebs) but people can choose to be around those things or separate themselves from it. I grew up around family and friends that regularly partook of illegal drugs yet I still removed myself from those situations.
As was already mentioned there are many career fields that would disqualify you for being around a known illegal activity and doing nothing about it - it reveals ones character and not in a positive way. I have applied for jobs where I had to take a lie detector and by giving answers that he would have to would have disqualified me from the position. You never have to just accept the situation you are in and there is always a way out, even if it is not an easy one. I do not know this guys circumstances but I am certain if I did I could give him a way out of this. Us older folks have most likely already experienced the things you younger folks have not so we know in hindsight what the correct decision is since we have already lived through it. You can learn by our mistakes and life experiences or choose to not listen and make those same mistakes yourself. It may not be what he wanted to hear but it still doesn't change the fact that it is the correct answer. The best choice is not always the easy ones to make and i hope it turns out well for him in the end. Not to toot my own horn but this is the best advice you are going to get at 2 in the morning.............

[MAGAManofATX]

Hey everybody! Thanks for your great discussion and advice. I've decided that I will not be taking my firearm to my apartment at this time, and likely not for the rest of the semester. I'm going to wait until my permit is officially approved and I have it in my hands. This semester I will attempt to enforce a "keep your stuff in your room" policy, and I'll reassess the situation then. I've talked to my roommates, and one of them is explicitly clear that he will continue to smoke. He said "lol I'll buy you some pepper spray dude. Weed > guns, especially in our apartment."

Upon further inspection of my lease, they can actually force eviction if they find any sort of weapons in your apartment or on the property. So I need to decide what I want to do about that as well. Some posters were correct in that this was a "random matching" situation. I didn't know any of my roommates prior to moving in with them. I would not willingly live with drug users!

Moving is not an option at this time because I'm a full time student, and classes start Tuesday. I can't break my lease (7K dollars of rent), find a new place, move, while maintaining a good performance in school. It's better to leave it at home.

I understand that I'm coming off pretty paranoid. But I'm new to this, and I don't have the experience that many of you have. I want to do everything in the proper manner.

Better safe than sorry! Even if "safe" in this context is living without my firearm for a bit. It is a short time in the long run of being a responsible LTC holder.

[WTR]

If marajana is found in your apartment ( no matter who's room it is) you may be charged and you can kiss your future LTC goodbye. You need to be more assertive and talk to management and the Police to assert your rights and quit allow yourself to walked on.... Weed is still illegal in TX.

[Glock4ever]

Hey everybody! Thanks for your great discussion and advice. I've decided that I will not be taking my firearm to my apartment at this time, and likely not for the rest of the semester. I'm going to wait until my permit is officially approved and I have it in my hands. This semester I will attempt to enforce a "keep your stuff in your room" policy, and I'll reassess the situation then. I've talked to my roommates, and one of them is explicitly clear that he will continue to smoke. He said "lol I'll buy you some pepper spray dude. Weed > guns, especially in our apartment."

Upon further inspection of my lease, they can actually force eviction if they find any sort of weapons in your apartment or on the property. So I need to decide what I want to do about that as well. Some posters were correct in that this was a "random matching" situation. I didn't know any of my roommates prior to moving in with them. I would not willingly live with drug users!

Moving is not an option at this time because I'm a full time student, and classes start Tuesday. I can't break my lease (7K dollars of rent), find a new place, move, while maintaining a good performance in school. It's better to leave it at home.

I understand that I'm coming off pretty paranoid. But I'm new to this, and I don't have the experience that many of you have. I want to do everything in the proper manner.

Better safe than sorry! Even if "safe" in this context is living without my firearm for a bit. It is a short time in the long run of being a responsible LTC holder.

You might as well just quit college now and get a job flipping burgers. This is where you are headed by 1) ignoring all the advice on here and 2) risking a drug conviction which won't allow you to get a decent job. Sorry to say but it sounds like you need some tough love. I was going to email you with the offer of a loan to get out of this situation but you haven't shown to care enough.

Does your lease talk about drug use?

[MAGAManofATX]

What are you talking about? I've said that I'm not bringing my firearm into that situation. I HAVE listened. Doesn't it say something about my gut instinct that I am seeking advice in the first place and considering the consequences? I DO care, because I am actively seeking information and advice.

You would be hard pressed to find an apartment in my area that does not have marijuana users in it. The police in Austin do not care. I have lived in this complex for three years and I have never even seen a police officer anywhere in our building, or any other apartment building that I've visited. I am confident that I am not risking a drug conviction. I have never used drugs!

I do not want to invite potential problems with my firearm into my situation. Guns + Weed = big boy felony. And they're going to pull me and my entire apartment in before I get to say a word.

I understand your concern. Drugs are bad, mkkay? But it is simply unrealistic to pack up everything and move in the middle of the semester. Even if I got my roommates kicked out or I myself moved rooms, it's unlikely that I will be free from drug users.

Yes, my lease says that there will be no drug use in the apartment. They also say that there can be no tobacco use, and maintenance has seen my roommates smoke cigarettes on the balcony multiple times. They specify that there can be no weapons (including BB guns, Pellet Guns, Pocket Knives and many other things). It is feasible to call the management and report drug use. It's also feasible that my roommates say "Yeah well he's our dealer", and then I'm quadruple screwed. Regardless of evidence or a good lawyer, I'm getting evicted on hearsay.

I'm not bringing my firearm to my apartment. But I'm also not going to raise hell and poke the wrong bear. Drug users are erratic and don't always make sense. If they're facing consequences, they're going to make sure that everyone else is going to face consequences as well. Everything has been smooth with the three sets of roommates I've lived with over the last 3 years. I'm not going to mess it up. Snitches get stitches?

Here's my solution: I'm looking into a one bedroom apartment for my final semester. I will be responsible for myself and my belongings. There will be no drugs. And THEN I will consider possessing my firearm.

I don't need your money. I will simply not bring my firearm into the mix, and that will solve the only problems on my horizon.

"You might as well just quit college now and get a job flipping burgers. This is where you are headed..." what a load of garbage. Give me a break, dude.

[twomillenium]

Yes your are seeking advice, but seemingly not listening to good advice.

Maybe one of the younger members can get you a job with him. The advice and the justification that was given by a younger member sounds like they have, "Do you want to supersize that?" down pat. Decisions you make and justifications you make before your brain is fully developed can effect you for the rest of your life. The "what ifs" and "probably won't happen" can easily turn into "just might" and "it happened". There are always options and some are hard. Next time, when asking for advice, qualify it with, "I don't want to hear anything that makes me do anything that I really don't want to do or takes effort."
Good luck with your studies.
P.S. I am older but I remember what it was like, I got LUCKY and survived.