"I know people are uncomfortable saying that, but the sooner we kind of wrap our mind around it the better," Echols said, later bringing up gun ownership as an example area of legal conflict. "We can't change federal law. This Legislature's not gonna change federal law."

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, however, has said it plans to enforce federal law even though there currently is no legal route giving the agency the ability to cross-check patient licenses with applications for Self-Defense Act licenses. Gun purchase forms from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives state in bold that people who use marijuana, regardless of their state's law on the subject, is prohibited under federal law from having firearms or ammunition.

OSBI spokeswoman Jordan Solorzano said in August that while the law doesn't mean the department would be "going door-to-door trying to round guns up," people who want to use marijuana should surrender their SDA licenses and get rid of their weapons.