Dear Gun People, Follow the Lead of the Weed People

By: Mike Maharrey

Dear Gun People,

I know a lot of you are pretty upset about the prospects of a Joe Biden presidency. He’s promised to be tough on guns and you think he might start an all-out assault on the Second Amendment. We could see more federal gun control coming down the pike. We could even see some kind of weapons ban.

Now granted, the Senate may slow Biden’s roll if it remains in Republican control. But even that isn’t a guarantee. After all, there are quite a few liberal Republican senators who might just go along with more gun control, especially if there is some kind of tragic shooting incident that gets people all riled up about guns again. On top of that, modern presidents have proven that they don’t really need Congress to implement gun control. They can do a lot of damage to the Second Amendment via executive order.

But let’s back up for a moment. Despite the rhetoric, Trump wasn’t exactly great on the Second Amendment. He ramped up enforcement of existing federal gun control each of the first three years of his presidency, and there’s no reason to think he didn’t ratchet it up again this year. Don’t forget, every federal firearms law currently on the books is a violation of the Second Amendment.

On top of that, Trump did something the “gun-grabbing” Barack Obama didn’t do – instituted new federal gun control in the form of a “bump stock” ban.

Yes, I know a lot of you don’t really care about bump stocks. But the ban was unconstitutional whether you think anybody “needs” a bump stock or not. On a side-note, it’s ironic that some of you Second Amendment supporters used that “you don’t need one” argument for bump stocks considering that’s the exact same argument the “gun-grabbers” use for “assault rifles.”

Anyway, Trump wasn’t much of a Second Amendment president. Now, I will grant you — Biden could be even worse. But it doesn’t have to matter. Because the weed people have given you the blueprint to stop federal gun control in its tracks.

Actually, the weed people didn’t come up with the blueprint. James Madison gave it to us in Federalist #46 when he said states could impede “unwarrantable” federal actions (or even warrantable actions that happen to be unpopular) with “a refusal to cooperate with officers of the union.”

This is what marijuana activists have done. Instead of focusing on D.C. politics, they took action at the state and local level. And they’ve enjoyed great success. Despite federal prohibition, 36 states have legalized marijuana in some form. During the 2020 election, four more states legalized recreational marijuana, bringing the total number to 15.

Did I mention that the federal government continues its efforts at marijuana control?

You see, the dirty little secret is the federal government can’t enforce its laws without state and local cooperation. When it comes to weed, state and local governments haven’t cooperated. In fact, they have outright defied federal prohibition.

When a state legalizes marijuana for medical or recreational use, it removes a layer of laws prohibiting the possession and use of marijuana. This is significant because FBI statistics show that law enforcement makes approximately 99 of 100 marijuana arrests under state, not federal law. By legalizing cannabis, these states can essentially sweep away at least some of the basis for 99 percent of marijuana arrests. Furthermore, figures indicate it would take 40 percent of the DEA’s yearly-budget just to investigate and raid all of the dispensaries in Los Angeles – a single city in a single state. That doesn’t include the cost of prosecution. The lesson? The feds lack the resources to enforce marijuana prohibition without state assistance.

The feds would almost certainly have the same problem maintaining any federal gun control scheme if states simply stopped enforcing it.

But for whatever reason, you all don’t seem to want to press that option. You gun folks would rather send money to the feckless NRA, or elect a “Second Amendment president” like Trump (who ends up awful on the Second Amendment), or beg federal judges to protect their rights.

Newsflash – that isn’t working.

What I’m trying to tell you is to follow the lead of the weed people. Show some guts like the weed people. Get out there and nullify like the weed people. Because when it’s all said and done, that’s the only way you’re going to stop the erosion of the Second Amendment. The federal government isn’t ever going to limit the federal government.

You have the blueprint. Now get busy and start building.

In liberty, your fellow gun person,

Mike