Dear editor,

Pennsylvania’s citizens, at least those paying attention, recognize there are two hot-button issues being aggressively advanced today by certain Harrisburg executive branch politicos: the immediate legalization of pot and the ultimate demise of private gun ownership. Whether the leftists pushing these agenda items are successful is speculative. And while the two issues may seem unrelated at first glance, these people may have a hidden strategy which blends the two campaigns to accomplish the goal of citizen disarmament. Consider the following.

The possession or use of marijuana - any marijuana - is still a federal crime in the United States. It makes no difference the amount of pot or the reasons (medicinal or recreational) for its use, or even if a state deems the uses legal. It’s a federal crime with severe penalties.

To legally acquire a firearm from a federally licensed gun dealer, a buyer must first complete and sign a multiple-page federal form (ATF 4473) called a Firearms Transaction Record. This form contains a series of questions the buyer must truthfully answer. The answers determine whether or not the transaction can be completed. Question 21e asks, “Are you an unlawful user of marijuana?” By unlawful, the federal government explains in the following sentence that any use or possession of pot is unlawful. A person who uses marijuana for any reason but answers “NO” to this question, and then signs the form as being truthful, has committed yet another federal crime.

Is it possible that this urgent push to legalize widespread recreational pot use could be just another sinister ruse to dismantle the Second Amendment? You bet it is, given the caliber of people leading the executive branch. They undoubtedly know the wording in form ATF 4437 and the dilemma it poses for prospective gun buyers who use pot with the state’s blessings and are then confronted with question 21e. The hidden strategy is quite simple: for every person standing in line at the local pot store, that’s one less person standing in line at the local gun store. And there’s your citizen disarmament.

L. Ernie Foucault

Kresgeville