Following Minnesota’s status as the 23rd state to legalize recreational marijuana last week, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives issued a strong warning.
The author, apparently Jeff Reed, ATF’s Acting Special Agent in Charge of the St. Paul Field Division, sought to provide “clarification for gun owners and potential gun owners who may be considering using marijuana given Minnesota’s recent ease on marijuana restrictions.”
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“Regardless of the recent changes in Minnesota law related to the legalization of marijuana, an individual who is a current user of marijuana is still federally defined as an ‘unlawful user’ of a controlled substance and therefore is prohibited from shipping, transporting, receiving, or possessing firearms or ammunition,” Reed said in the letter.
“Until marijuana is legalized federally, firearms owners and possessors should be mindful that it remains federally illegal to mix marijuana with firearms and ammunition. As regulators of the firearms industry and enforcers of firearms laws, we felt it was important to remind Minnesotans of this distinction as the marijuana laws adjust here in the State of Minnesota.”
The letter demonstrates once more how the ATF will intimidate and threaten law-abiding citizens while disregarding prominent Democrats who are engaging in the same offenses. Nikki Fried, a former marijuana lobbyist, a former agriculture commissioner of Florida, a failed gubernatorial candidate, and the current chair of the Florida Democratic Party, personifies ATF’s double standard of justice maybe more than Hunter Biden.
Fried made an appearance on “The Marijuana Solution’s” podcast in 2019, only days before she was sworn in as Agriculture Commissioner, who is responsible for Florida’s Concealed Weapon or Firearm License (CWFL) program. She informed the audience that despite federal restrictions, Floridians were permitted to possess both a CWFL and a state-issued medical marijuana card in accordance with state law.
“I have both,” Fried said on the podcast, which was sponsored by a marijuana vendor. “So, I want to make that very clear, that I will not be taking anybody’s concealed weapons permit or not renewing them. I see no conflict between the two.”
Although the podcast’s website has since been removed, additional proof is still available.
Fried shared a photo of her medical marijuana card on her campaign’s Facebook page while campaigning for governor in 2021. The image’s caption read:
“I’m a proud medical marijuana card-holder and I’ll fight like hell to stop Republicans in the Florida Legislature from restricting patient access.”
In a 2018 Tweet, Fried admitted she owned at least one firearm.
“The NRA says I’ll take your guns—that’s a lie. I own a gun, I’m not anti-gun, I’m pro-public safety. The gun lobby feels threatened, they just spent $1 million on ads to maintain control of our government. I’m running to restore accountability and ensure full background checks,” she said in the Tweet.
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When the pandemic was at its worst, Fried, who was in charge of Florida’s CWFL program, shut down the online application portal, suspended the CWFLs of numerous Floridians who participated in the protest on January 6 before they were found guilty of any crime, and boasted that she had “kicked the NRA out of Florida’s gun licensing office.”
Requests for Fried to comment on this article were not met with a response.
There are obviously two standards of justice.
Honestly, it is not like the ATF is unaware that Fried is flaunting the law.
In 2019, a daily newspaper in Florida even published a story titled: “Will the feds bust Nikki Fried?”
But so far, the ATF has given Fried a complete pass, even though she admitted she possesses firearms, has a valid CWFL, and is what ATF’s acting SAC in St. Paul called an “unlawful user of a controlled substance.”
Fried’s front door has not yet been the scene of any late-night “knock-and-talks,” despite the fact that ATF agents around the nation are unconstitutionally peeping into the homes of law-abiding gun owners who could have bought after-market triggers, solvent traps, or other firearm attachments.
Bear in mind Hunter Biden as well. While others who are not the president’s son have received federal jail sentences for the same violations, the ATF and federal prosecutors have been looking into the false statements he made when he bought a weapon in Delaware for more than five years.
Perhaps the ATF is too preoccupied trying to turn 40 million law-abiding Americans into felons after they bought a plastic firearm accessory, which the agency twice determined was entirely lawful, to pay attention to the misdeeds of prominent Democrats.
One of a lengthy list of crimes the ATF has been permitted to perform for years, entirely unchecked, is the clear double standard of justice at work. Now, the question we should be asking isn’t what they will do with Nikki or Hunter, but rather, how long can we as a free society permit such a dishonest and politically biased federal law enforcement institution to remain?