The politicians in my local village are taking it upon
themselves to regulate where marijuana, for recreational purposes, may be sold
and where it may not be sold. They claim they are doing so in anticipation of
NY state legalizing it for such use. Thus it has been proposed that vendors
will only be able to sell it a certain distance from houses of worship, schools
and the like. They have determined that it should be sold from stores within
the village’s industrial zone (made in the USA is bound to suffer due to that
one) do not want it to get into the hands of kiddies, So, someone setting up
shop will have to assure that the place of business will have to be at least
500 from any school. (More at the source.) Such a law or regulation ought to work as well as the federal
law making it illegal to carry firearms within 1,000 feet of a school zone – look
at how many lives that one has saved.
If marijuana was actually to be legalized it would be okay by
me; let’s face it prohibition does not work. The thing is though, even if NY
state passes legislation into law permitting the recreational use of it, it
will still be illegal – there are federal laws making it such. Now comes the
tricky part – NY will undoubtedly enforce federal laws making marijuana possession
and use illegal as they see fit to fit their political agenda. With that sad,
you can safely bet that even if legalized in this state, guns owners will be prosecuted
or at the very least will have their guns seized and license revoked should
they be caught or admit to use of marijuana within NY. After all, it is part of
federal law/regulation that does not allow for a person to legally own transfer
and or own firearms if they use illegal drugs. “Oh wait, but marijuana is legal
in my state” you say. Yes but as I just said still illegal under federal law
and NY, being a gun-control leftist Utopia, definitely will enforce those laws
and relative regulations unlike the way they totally violate federal laws and
regulations relative to illegal immigration and/or likely will violate federal
law and regulation relative to the possession and use of marijuana should they
pass legislation legalizing it under state law.
God forbid that a gun owner would smoke marijuana – he might
go on a killing rampage. So, NY will likely still consider it illegal for
someone to own firearms if he or she smokes or even possesses marijuana. Then
again, what about drivers, doctors, nurses, law enforcement officers, crossing
guards, judges, district attorneys, politicians, builders, electricians, barbers
(those razors are sharp), teachers and anyone else – won’t it be potentially very
dangerous allowing them to use it too? Under NY law, it likely will not be
illegal for most of those folks or will be ignored even if illegal (by way of selective
enforcement), except maybe in the case of law enforcement officers.
The federal government could stop all this immediately if those
in it wanted to put an end to it. All they would have to do is collect the tax
on marijuana that has been on the books for years. Taxation is how the federal
government was able to regulate narcotics and other drugs, by way of the
Harrison Act, in the first place and yes it was the progressives who came up
with that tax. Francis Burton Harrison was a New Yorker, a congressman and, of
course, a Democrat. Getting back to the tax on marijuana, I do not recall the
tax rate per ounce but I do remember it is astronomically high. The feds could
rake in a lot of dough allowing the states to legalize it even if the federal
government legalized it but still regulated it. Not that I am much for
over-taxation by any government but he feds potentially could rein in states
like NY by enforcement of such a tax or they could reduce the tax for states
that continue to cooperate with the feds on such things as illegal immigration.
Yet, that is unlikely to happen and the states will just legislate laws making
it selectively legal as they deem fit while selectively enforcing federal laws and regulations making
it a no-no for firearms owner. You can bet on it.
My personal thoughts are that neither the state nor federal
governments should have anything to say about a weed someone wants to grow and
possess to get high except maybe with regard to operating motor vehicles or
carrying out critical job functions and endangering the lives of others while
under the influence. Owning a car or having a certain job or owning a firearm should have nothing to do with it so long as you are not endangering anyone while using it.
All the best,
Glenn B
