Freudian slip?

I've not been shy about expressing my dislike (most recently here) of programs like Richmond, Virginia's Project Exile, whereby whenever possible, offenders of the myriad draconian gun laws are prosecuted under federal law, in order to maximize the sentence. This article is about a similar program in Pueblo, Colorado.

I don't have much to say about it that I haven't said about such programs before, but one sentence, quoting Troy Eid (U.S. Attorney for Colorado), grabbed my attention:

He said [Pueblo Police Chief Jim] Billings has told him Pueblo criminals now less often take guns to their drug deals. "They've learned you might go to federal prison if they do."

Hmm--"you might go to federal prison if they" conduct illegal drug transactions while armed. I'm familiar with the well established tradition of punishing responsible, peaceable gun owners for the actions of criminals, but I hadn't expected it to be so casually admitted to by one of the practitioners.

I actually realize that it was just a clumsy misstatement, but one could argue that it holds some (accidental) truth.