In pushing to keep people who comply with state law (instead of going around it as can easily be done by anyone motivated enough) from exercising their constitutional rights, Biden’s DOJ has really laid their animosity for gun owners and legal cannabis users bare (link above). Federal arguments that historical revocation of 2A rights by “dangerous groups” like Native Americans and Catholics allow the current American government to bar gun ownership by legal potheads aren’t even the wildest part.
In the ongoing lawsuit against the DOJ, the department recently filed a motion to dismiss, in which, the government described law-abiding citizens choosing to use cannabis products as ‘tramps,’ ‘mentally ill,’ ‘criminals,’ ‘lunatics,’ ‘panhandlers,’ and ‘unvirtuous.’ and unworthy of the 2A rights we grant to the average alcoholic?
Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried, who is party to the lawsuit in her official capacity, has responded to the uncharitable characterization as “…as ‘contradictory and unstable’ as their overall marijuana policy…”. Merrick Gardland, the listed defendant in the lawsuit, has spoken publicly on the topic, and described cannabis use as “nonviolent” and that it “does not cause societal harm”. Other states have figured this out, and made their own rulings. Oregon settled the issue internally in 2011, with the state supreme court ruling that simply having a medical card could not disqualify someone from exercising their 2A rights. Apparently the Feds don’t care.
So where do we find the meeting of the truth and federal policy? The DOJ might organizationally believe what they are saying (though one would hope that they don’t actually think referencing a ban on catholic gun ownership is a valid argument), but the people in charge apparently don’t. Is the institutional inertia of the drug war too great? Is the 2A aspect of this making them twist themselves in knots to justify something the don’t believe? Are the financial interests and political influence of the Private Prison system too great? Is this schizophrenia just part and parcel of the current justice system?
