The world is mourning the loss of at least 17 people after a 19-year-old opened fire at a Florida high school on Wednesday. Americans are questioning the hypocrisy of their leadership.
Americans took to social media to reflect on the tragedy. They challenged their leadership and question what they dubbed as “hypocrisy.” Americans on social media hovered over the fact that guns are an easy accessory to kill while marijuana, a beneficial plant, is shunned.
Anthony from New York is among those Americans, who gave his two cents in a tweet.
“I love how Republicans are scared of legalizing marijuana but they are not afraid of all these people carrying guns,” he tweeted. “More hypocrisy in our government,” he added.
The trend to legalize weed is gaining a whirlwind of momentum. On Jan. 1, California became the largest U.S. state to legalize recreational marijuana. Later, the state of Vermont permitted cannabis possession but not sales. There are even more movements in states including Texas heading towards legalization and acceptance.
But the trend, which was blowing in gusts across the U.S., was met with an obstacle: U.S. Attorney Jeff Sessions. Sessions, an anti-marijuana hardliner, annulled what was known as the Cole Memo. This memo allowed U.S. states the freedom to operate their already legal marijuana business without fear of federal intervention.
Sessions did not only rescind the Cole Memo, dating back to the Obama administration, but he tightened the federal government crackdown on marijuana. Now, banks are fearing that they are in violation of a federal law if they were to give their services to the states, who have legalized marijuana.
But the tightened grip of the federal government on marijuana – a plant with proven medical benefits – and not on assault rifles, used by the adolescent Cruz to kill 17 young lives, is a worrisome issue.
Kentington Clarke, another New Yorker, also dismissed this glaring disparity over what is deemed dangerous or not.
“People are going to say ‘what about hunting?’ Yes, what about hunting? Hunting is a recreation activity. Drugs can be used recreationally, too. Yet, they’re not legal; not even marijuana,” he wrote. “Currently, certain plants are regulated more heavily than guns. Is that really acceptable?”
New York currently has two legal cases challenging the federal law on marijuana. One by an Army veteran Jose Belen, who is defending marijuana’s therapeutic and medicinal benefits. Participation in the Iraq War left him with post-traumatic stress disorder. The other lawsuit is by 12-year-old Alexis Bortell, an epileptic child, who has successfully treated her medical condition with medical marijuana.
The American author, comic book writer, and screenwriter, Chuck Wendig, who has more than 82 thousand followers on Twitter, wrote: “It’s pretty fucking goofy that people want to ban weed, but not guns. Newsflash: the only thing you murder with marijuana is a bag of Doritos.”
It’s pretty fucking goofy that people want to ban weed, but not guns. Newsflash: the only thing you murder with marijuana is a bag of Doritos.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) February 15, 2018
However, there are others who begged to differ, saying how user’s discretion is what makes any substance or object good or bad.
Mr. Blunts wrote: “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” Another user by the name of Ramble, also highlighted the stubborn part of human nature if it is laced with a bad intention.
“Banning these guns will do nothing. Marijuana is illegal in many places, people still get it. If someone has a sick mind and the intentions of killing, they will, and if they want to do it with a gun, they’ll get one someway somehow. Even if they’re banned,” he wrote.
There’s no way to ban all guns, someone would still find a way to get one or build one and then when they start a mass shooting no one else will have a gun to stop them. Just like marijuana is illegal in most places but it’s still everywhere😂
— Eli (@EliFourniquet) February 15, 2018
On one Instagram account said to be belonging to Cruz, the young man is seen touting his a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle in one photo, and in some other images, rifles with scopes appear to be lying on a bed.
