Don't Blame Mass Shootings on Cannabis Legalizations

Don’t Blame The Mass Shootings On Cannabis Legalization

cannabis legalization and gun shootings

After the horrific mass shootings that just happened in Ohio and Texas, the last thing we need is a politician pointing fingers at cannabis.

But that’s exactly what Ohio Rep. Candice Keller did: she went on Facebook to slam liberals for gun violence. Keller, who hails from Middleton, Ohio, just half an hour away from the site of the shootings, took a cheap shot and went on to blame recreational cannabis legalization for the tragedy.

“The breakdown of the traditional American family (thank you, transgender, homosexual marriage, and drag queen advocates); fatherlessness, a subject no one discusses or believes is relevant; the ignoring of violent video games; the relaxing of laws against criminals (open borders); the acceptance of recreational marijuana; failed school policies (hello, parents who defend misbehaving students): disrespect to law enforcement (thank you, Obama),” reads Keller’s post.

Keller, who is nothing short of notorious for her controversial (albeit tactless) comments, naturally received backlash for opening her mouth in such a way.

“Those people aren’t even buried yet and she came out with these comments… She should resign because she doesn’t represent our party,” said Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones to the Journal News. He, as well as others, have called for her resignation. “She doesn’t represent me, she doesn’t represent our community, she doesn’t represent the state or the country,” he explains.

Bigotry Everywhere

Even though the federal government has been tolerant of the United States’ experimentations with legalizing cannabis, both for medicinal and for recreational purposes, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) isn’t having any of it.

They have made it clear that medical marijuana patients will not be allowed to own guns; anyone who has an MMJ card, or who has been charged of illegal cannabis possession, can’t own guns.

And even if you aren’t giving guns to cannabis users, you are certainly feeding the Drug War, and we all know that it isn’t working.

The Drug War is causing deaths, while legalizing cannabis is saving lives. If you don’t believe us, just look at the research.

There’s an interesting recent study conducted by economists and a criminologist, namely Floris Zoutman, Evelina Gavrilova, and Takuma Kamada, on the impact of medical marijuana laws and crime.

“We examine the eﬀects of medical marijuana laws (MMLs) on crime… Using data from the Uniform Crime Reports, we show that the introduction of MMLs lead to a decrease of 12.5 percent in violent crime, such as homicides, aggravated assaults and robberies in states that border Mexico. We also show that the reduction in violent crimes is strongest for counties close to the border (less than 350km)… Analysis from the Supplementary Homicide Reports data reveals that the decrease in homicides can largely be attributed to a drop in drug-law related homicides. We ﬁnd evidence for spillover eﬀects. When an inland state passes a MML, this results in a decrease in crime in the nearest border state. Our results are consistent with the theory that the introduction of MMLs reduces activity by Mexican drug traﬃcking organizations and their aﬃliated gangs in the border region. MMLs expose drug traﬃcking organizations (DTOs) to legitimate competition, and substantially reduce their proﬁts in one of their most lucrative drug markets. This leads to a decrease in drug related crime in the Mexican border area. Our results indicate that decriminalization of the production and distribution of drugs may lead to a reduction in violence in markets where organized drug criminals meet licit competition,” reads the study abstract.

What they are trying to say is that, if you legalize drugs, violent crime will decrease.

That’s just one study, though there’s more where it came from.

Another study, this time focused on California, found that property and violent crime decreased 20% since the state legalized cannabis for medical use. In fact, Los Angeles and other large cities see more cannabis dispensaries than McDonalds or Starbucks.

There are several theories as to why this happens: for one, legalizing the drug may reduce the black market as well as the violence that occurs within its circles. Another reason why this happens is also because police resources are more allocated to deterring crime instead of enforcing drug laws. Then there are studies proving that dispensaries deter crime.

We could go on with supporting statistics, but the truth of the matter is simple: neither drag queen advocates nor cannabis has anything to do with mass shootings. Politicians like Keller should instead look at gun laws and find ways to fix the issue.