Drug Freedom Clearing The Road For Gun Freedom?

It’s funny how things work out.

A lot of puns and humor were tossed at the two Super Bowl teams this year as both come from states that have legalized marijuana.

As a gun rights advocate I am rather curious as to how the whole drug thing will shake out because the federal government is pretty clear that drugs that they deem illegal cannot be allowed by states. The states of Washington and Colorado disagree.

If the Federal Government blinks it will be the blink heard round the world because it will set a precedent in where a state can willfully and overtly ignore Federal Laws in order to conduct state business as an autonomous sovereignty.

As a Libertarian I love this. Please do not take that as me condoning or endorsing the use of heretofore illicit drugs, but if a state wants to pass a law saying that a State’s right to run itself, so long as it doesn’t run afoul of the Bill of Rights, is wholly dependent on the state and its citizens, I am all for it.

Now, what does this have to do with guns?

In case you were not aware there are currently 7 states that have passed Firearm Freedom Acts which basically say that the Federal Government has no say in the firearm manufacturing or sales of firearms that are made and stay within a state.

So if a manufacturer wants to produce Thompson sub machine guns in Tennessee and sell them exclusively to citizens of the Volunteer State where those guns will remain, the FFA states that the federal government has no say in the matter. No FFL needed, no ATF harassment, no outrageous stamp tax and no federal gun ban will be adhered to.

Basically it states that the Federal government can go sit on a broom handle and spin.

Oddly enough, hippie pot smokers are on the front lines of states’ rights that may cement the FFA’s legal standing.

Politics truly do make strange bedfellows.

No doubt gun haters will see my juxtaposition and claim that drugs are “harmless” so the Federal laws “stupid” and therefore are allowed to be ignored but then hypocritically state that we should follow Federal Gun bans and oppressive laws concerning the sale and manufacturing of firearms.

Allow me to debunk that nonsense right now.

In Allegheny County and really much of Western Pennsylvania drug users are dropping left and right from overdoses as a new heroin laced with fentanyl has hit the streets. In the month of January alone, 14 people have died from overdoses. In fact that is just from the last 13 days of the month so more than a person a day is dying from drugs.

Now take a look at the chart over the past 15 years:

An average of 222 fatalities per year from people overdosing.

Since 2008 there has been a total of 585 homicides in Allegheny county. That’s not gun deaths…that is ALL kinds of homicides be they stabbings, beatings, chokings, trauma, poisonings etc. Compare that to the years 2006-2012 ( same amount of years) and you have 1712 deaths do to drugs. That is nearly 300% more deaths do to drugs than ANY type of murder, let alone just guns.

My point is that while Colorado and Washington open their arms wide for legalizing drugs (first marijuana and who knows where it will go from there) the notion that legalizing drugs is somehow less dangerous than shirking off the oppression and civil rights violations of gun control is laughable.

Drugs kill more people BY FAR than guns do. I just focused on Allegheny county because it’s home but this is a pattern that is repeated throughout the country.

In the US during 2010 there were 11,078 gun related homicides yet there were 37,792 drug related deaths. Drugs caused more deaths than guns by almost a factor of 4. And before you go chalking this up to inner city heroin users the drug deaths include prescription drugs, party drugs and recreational drugs. Things kids get into, things college kids try etc.

Drugs are dangerous. More dangerous than guns by far. States want to thumb their noses at the Feds and allow drugs to be sold freely? Ok.

Those people better keep their pot stuffin pie holes shut when Alaska, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota and Tennessee (and other states with legislation pending) move forward and follow suit by telling the Fed to stick their gun control where the sun don’t shine.

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