Trading Right to Bear Arms for Right to Get High

27 Jan, 2014 by Dave Blount

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How is this for a deal with the Devil? Illinois is willing to let you smoke “medical” marijuana — but only if you renounce your right to bear arms:

That means rather than hold substance abusers accountable for harming others while under the influence, sick and vulnerable people in physically weakened conditions will be unable to defend themselves at all times.

Technically, the same deal applies anywhere marijuana has been legalized.

“Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?” ATF’s Form 4473 Firearms Transaction Record asks, and if the answer is “Yes,” a sale may not proceed. Lying about that is a felony, and state laws notwithstanding, the federal government’s position is clear:

“[A]ny person who uses or is addicted to marijuana, regardless of whether his or her State has passed legislation authorizing marijuana use for medicinal purposes, is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance, and is prohibited by Federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition,” ATF Enforcement Programs and Services made clear in a 2011 open letter to Federal Firearms Licensees.

The federal government has no constitutional authority to regulate marijuana use. But then, it is explicitly forbidden by the Constitution from infringing on our right to bear arms. Constitutionality isn’t a fashionable concept in the Age of Hope & Change.

There is some good news. The Oregon Supreme Court has ruled that marijuana users cannot be denied concealed carry permits. However, they can still be forbidden from possessing guns.

Marijuana is well known to render those who indulge in it less intelligent and less industrious — but also less aggressive. Tying its use to gun ownership makes sense only from the point of view of a government trying to coax us into trading away our fundamental rights.

Nothing could more perfectly exemplify a short-sighted, lotus-eating liberal slave than a pot-head who surrenders his right to bear arms so that the government will let him get stoned in peace, as if that same government couldn’t come back for the marijuana and anything else it wants after it has the guns.