Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nikki Fried is making the doublethink argument that the Sunshine State needs more gun control, except for guns that could be owned by pot users.
The Biden administration refuses to go along.
On Monday, The Free Press reported that the Justice Department is defending a federal law that bans medical marijuana users from buying guns – on the grounds that pot is still an illegal substance under federal law.
Arguing that the country has a long tradition of viewing intoxication and firearms as a “dangerous” mix, the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried challenging federal prohibitions on medical-marijuana patients buying guns.
Fried, a former marijuana lobbyist who now serves as Florida’s agriculture commissioner, sued the federal government earlier this year, maintaining that medical-pot patients are being denied their Second Amendment rights.
“The defendants can offer no rational explanation for why federal law would expressly protect programs that essentially turn otherwise law-abiding citizens into criminals with no self-control,” Fried said in her lawsuit, as The Free Press reported last month.
“Quite simply, there is no historical tradition of denying individuals their Second Amendment rights based solely (or even partially) on the use of marijuana.”
In the news: Voter Registration Executive Order Draws Fire From Florida, 14 Other States
Yet the Biden administration asserted that federal courts have “uniformly” agreed that current U.S. law prohibits gun possession by “unlawful users” of marijuana.
In its filing to dismiss Fried’s lawsuit, the Justice Department noted that “empirical data and legislative determinations support a strong link between drug use and violence,” and that marijuana adversely affects the “judgment, cognition and physical coordination” of those who use it.
Monday’s memo pointed to a consent form, created by the Florida Board of Medicine, in which patients must acknowledge that marijuana impairs “the ability to think, judge and reason.”
“It is therefore dangerous to trust regular marijuana users to exercise sound judgment while intoxicated, a fact tragically borne out by the frequency with which marijuana users drive while impaired and suffer fatal collisions,” the Justice Department’s lawyers argued.
Government lawyers cited a 2019 ruling by a federal appeals court that “habitual drug abusers, like the mentally ill, are more likely to have difficulty exercising self-control, making it dangerous for them to possess deadly firearms.”
According to Newsmax, Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis sided with Fried in her lawsuit, even as she has targeted the incumbent for defeat.
In a statement back in April, DeSantis’ office noted, “The governor stands for protecting Floridians’ constitutional rights — including Second Amendment rights. Floridians should not be deprived of a constitutional right for using a medication lawfully.”
Visit Tampafp.com for Politics, Tampa Area Local News, Sports, and National Headlines. Support journalism by clicking here to our GiveSendGo or sign up for our free newsletter by clicking here.
Android Users, Click Here To Download The Free Press App And Never Miss A Story. Follow Us On Facebook Here Or Twitter Here.
Copyright 2022 The Free Press, LLC, tampafp.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
