by Robert M. Traxler
The television newsmagazine 60 minutes did a report Oct. 7 on a Missouri law that tells local and state law enforcement officers not to enforce some federal gun laws. It even forbids local and state police to cooperates with the ATF in some cases.
The good folks at 60 minutes were apoplectic that Missouri does not enforce federal law. Well, folks, this column predicted this years ago, warning the anti-American Constitution, progressive/socialist left that if a state could refuse to enforce federal immigration laws, it could just as easily refuse to enforce federal gun laws. Indeed, a few other states, all strong Republican states, now have laws that limit local and state support for federal gun laws.
The American left needs to think over the impact of truly dumb state laws that set a precedent for the nation. If California can be a sanctuary state, along with 10 others (all Democratic strong holds by the way), states that refuse to enforce federal law, even cooperation with immigration enforcement agencies, other states can refuse to enforce other federal laws.
I am positive that a moral equivalence will be shouted by the left that laws regulating guns are different and not a valid comparison. Well, the argument can be made that if you can scoff at one law you do not approve of, a different group can do the same with laws they do not as well. Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Once you establish a wanton disregard for one federal law, you open the door for disregarding any federal law a state feels is improper.
Years ago, I wrote in this column that the states that scoff at federal immigration laws and drug laws open the door for others to disregard any federal law they do not like. “Beware of what you wish, for as you may get it” was the warning. It is interesting that 60 Minutes did not mention the states that make it illegal to enforce immigration laws or drug laws, indeed a crime, to cooperate with federal immigration and drug enforcement agencies, but condemned them for scoffing at federal firearms laws.
Oregon has made possession of “user amounts” of heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), methamphetamine, oxycodone, and other hard drugs a misdemeanor similar to a traffic violation, carrying a whopping $100 fine. Oregon may require a person to receive an evaluation, and if necessary, counseling, paid for by the state. I could not find an Oregon law forbidding law enforcement from cooperating with the DEA or other federal drug laws, but that may exist or not be very far off.
Just how the most intelligent folks in the world, the socialist/progressive left, did not consider the future impact of their actions is puzzling. Federal law enforcement agencies have worked closely with local and state law enforcement for hundreds of years, and a safer community has been the result. Liberals and conservatives alike suffer from state, county and local laws that make it a criminal or a firing offense (to include loss of medical care and pensions) to assist federal law enforcement.
My opinion.
The nation has swung violently to the extreme left; people are sick and tired of the Democrats in the radical left leaving the center and rational thinking behind. The enormous spending bills President Joe Biden and the far left have proposed are a good example. They go way too far left, and the left needs to embrace common sense and move back to the center, or the midterm elections will cost them as it did during President Clinton’s and President Obama’s first terms; the progressives need to read history.
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