The Limitations of Government in a "democracy"? Prohibit guns? Drugs?

[sear]

Violent crime in Washington DC has lead to restrictive gun laws there. But in the Virginias gun laws are more lenient. DC crime investigation indicates some guns used in crimes in DC were acquired in nearby Virginia.

Government outright prohibitions cede control of the government prohibited commodity to criminals. Further, those prohibitions invite and nurture black-markets, and the criminals that operate them.
Thus the 18th Amendment (Prohibition) and the 21st Amendment (repeal) have taught US it's better for government to regulate commerce than to leave the task to criminals.

Is there a difference between the market forces for supply and demand for guns, vs market forces for supply and demand for marijuana?

Illinois marijuana sales to out-of-state residents
In October alone, Illinois made more than $40 million – $40,662,494 – off out-of-state sales to Hoosiers and other nearby residents.

Marijuana: Here's how much Illinois made selling weed to Indiana, out-of-state residents

Indiana has refused to legalize cannabis. Judging from Illinois' sales to out-of-state residents, the state may be missing out on millions of dollars.

news.yahoo.com

Is there any insight here, ten years after the Sandy Hook massacre about how to enhance the desired result of government regulation?

pro·hib·it (prō-hĭbĭt) 1. To forbid by authority: Smoking is prohibited in most theaters. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.

 

[titan]

The symptom, the result of gun restrictions reaches government attention when detected by investigating crime. Personal use drug possession whether for medicinal or recreational use is different. What Illinois sales to out of state residents reveals is the economic profile. It can't be 100% accurate. Some purchases in Illinois may be made by Illinois residents, who then transfer the drug to out of state residents, whether to friends, family, or for gray-market profit. In that case, the problem is even bigger than the yahoo news article indicates.

 

[sear]

t #2
Any idea what % of the out-of-State purchases for Illinois doobie is straw purchases?

My stumbling block here t #2 may simply stem from my own bias. I'm fundamentally opposed to Drug War, it's a usurpation of Liberty. It's War against the People. So I would strongly consider practical proposals to shift recreational drug commerce to closer to the beverage ethanol model.
Sadly, I'm not sure that would work with firearms. I'm not quite articulate enough to justify my double-standard.

 

[titan]

sear, I don't know. I'm not sure they know, or how they'd know.

 

[sear]

For low-info. voters and armchair critics absolutism is a convenience.
But the realities of policy application render absolutism not viable. For obvious example:

The United States Constitution enumerates:
B.O. R. ARTICLE #2: Ratified December 15, 1791
"... the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Yet individual citizens cannot legally "keep and bear" nuclear weapons, or doomsday bio-weapons.
So purist simplicity does not exist in practice regarding our 2nd Amendment.

The State Fair of Texas has banned weapons of any kind from the fairgrounds​

Ken Paxton threatens to sue after State Fair of Texas bans guns: 'Infringement of Second Amendment rights'​

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton threatened to sue the city of Dallas over a new policy banning concealed carry at the much-anticipated State Fair of Texas.
The State Fair announced last week that no guns would be allowed on fairgrounds unless carried by retired or active peace officers.
The decision prompted the Republican attorney general to fire off a letter to Dallas Interim City Manager Kim Tolbert.
TEXAS JUDGE BLOCKS BIDEN ADMINISTRATION RULE REQUIRING MORE GUN SELLERS TO RUN BACKGROUND CHECKS
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says the city of Dallas has 15 days to make the State Fair of Texas reverse its new gun policy or he will sue. (FOX 32)
In an X post, Paxton argues that the new policy violates existing Texas laws.

"Texas law clearly states that license to carry holders may not be prevented from carrying a firearm on property owned or leased by the government unless otherwise prevented by state statute," Paxton wrote. "The State Fair of Texas’s recent policy that infringes on LTC holders’ Second Amendment rights is unlawful."
"Dallas has fifteen days to fix the issue, otherwise I will see them in court," he said.

Ken Paxton threatens to sue after State Fair of Texas bans guns: 'Infringement of Second Amendment rights'

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton threatened to sue the State Fair of Texas after they banned guns following a shooting last year at the fairgrounds.

www.foxnews.com

Any predictions?

 

[titan]

Federal court rules ban on handgun sales to adults under age 21 is unconstitutional
By Victor Nava
Published Jan. 30, 2025, 6:21 p.m. ET

A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that a decades-old ban on federally licensed firearms dealers selling handguns to people aged 18, 19 and 20 is unconstitutional.

In a unanimous ruling, the three-judge panel on the New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals slammed the Biden administration’s attempt to argue that the handgun ban was in line with the “nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation” — a test for gun laws set by the Supreme Court’s landmark 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen.

“Ultimately, the text of the Second Amendment includes eighteen-to-twenty-year-old individuals among ‘the people’ whose right to keep and bear arms is protected,” the opinion authored by Judge Edith Jones stated.

“The federal government has presented scant evidence that eighteen-to-twenty-year-olds’ firearm rights during the founding-era were restricted in a similar manner to the contemporary federal handgun purchase ban, and its 19th century evidence ‘cannot provide much insight into the meaning of the Second Amendment when it contradicts earlier evidence,’” added Jones, nominated to the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that gun laws must be in line with the “nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”

The lawsuit against the federal government was brought by a group of adults under the age of 21 and two gun rights groups.

“Today’s ruling is yet another critical FPC win against an immoral and unconstitutional age-based gun ban. We look forward to restoring the Second Amendment rights of all peaceable adults throughout the United States,” Firearms Policy Coalition President Brandon Combs said in a statement.

“This dangerous decision will put more guns in the hands of teenagers — endangering lives,” the group wrote on X.

“We are ready to fight back.”

Federal court rules ban on handgun sales to adults under age 21 is unconstitutional

A Louisiana lower court judge had upheld the 1968 statute barring firearm sales to 18-20-year-olds in late 2022.

nypost.com

Original intent should not be ignored. Does it apply here? Is it as safe for society to arm this age group as it was centuries ago?

 

[sear]

"Is it as safe for society to arm this age group as it was centuries ago?" t #6

Why wouldn't it be?
Might social media, redirection of a senior teen's attention from faces to FaceBook dehumanized the current generation enough to make a public safety difference?
Does that matter? Not if original intent is the standard, your point perhaps.