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The debate over gun control is coming back to the Senate earlier than expected. The Senate agreed on Tuesday evening to vote Wednesday afternoon on a pair of firearms-related amendments to the Water Resources Development Act filed by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) “I don’t quite get why we’re voting on guns, but that’s the Republicans’ desire,” said the water bill’s floor manager, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). One amendment would repeal a gun prohibition on land under the jurisdiction of the Army Corps of Engineers. The other would require annual reports from federal agencies on ammunition and gun purchases as well...

1. What can a State – or several States – do to resist encroachments & usurpations by the federal government? 2. Federalist No. 46 (7th para) discusses how individual States or several States carry out resistance to the federal government’s unconstitutional encroachments. If a particular State takes an action which the federal government doesn’t like, but which has the support of the People of that State, the federal government can’t do anything about it unless it is willing to use force. So, in para 7, Madison contemplates that not all States will oppose unconstitutional encroachments by the federal government. But...

With the Autumnal Equinox now behind us, We, the People of Massachusetts, are reminded that in less than a month’s time we’ll be called upon to elect (or re-elect) a Senator to represent our interests in the upper house of the United States Congress. T’was not always thus. Those among my readers who stayed awake during Mrs. McGuffey’s 9th Grade History class will recall that, until the 2nd decade of the 20th Century, U.S. Senators were (per Art. 1, Sec. 3 of the Constitution) chosen by state legislatures, not elected directly by the people as at present. The most contentious issue facing the...

Bills 'nullifying' Washington overreach gaining momentum across the country It was called the strongest pro-gun bill in the country, and now it’s the law in Kansas. The law is designed to counter the push by liberal federal lawmakers for increased restrictions on gun rights. It nullifies any new limits on firearms, magazines and ammunition – whether enacted by Congress, presidential executive order or any agency. If Congress would have passed the Senate amendment expanding federal background checks, for example, the Kansas law would nullify it in the state. Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican, signed Senate Bill 102 into law...

America, weÂ’re told from a young age, is all about democracy, and democracy is all about choosing whom you want to be your representatives and holding them accountable. This seems like an entirely uncontroversial idea, but a surprising number of Republican politicians would like to do away with this right, and return the country to an older era when Americans didnÂ’t directly elect their representatives in Washington.Until 1913 and the ratification of the 17th Amendment, Americans didnÂ’t actually elect senators, state legislators did. The change seems unquestionably positive, but Rep. Jeff Flake, the front-runner for the Republican nomination for a...

Happy Anniversary! Today marks one hundred years of the horrible 17th Amendment. Its Progressive purpose was to democratize the Senate, and boy, did it! In a complete about face from the philosophy, experience and warnings from the Framing generation, the States no longer participate in the federal government. One hundred years ago today, the republic ceased being federal, and overnight became a single un-confederated republic that spanned a continent. It also created a temporary, partial power vacuum, and set the stage for total consolidation of authority in the national government. Once State agency was removed, all that was left were...

A growing number of states are moving forward with legislation to exempt them from new federal gun controls and, in some cases, brand as criminals anyone who tries to enforce them. While many of the bills are considered symbolic or appear doomed to fail, the legislative explosion reflects a backlash against legislative and regulatory efforts in Washington to tamp down on gun violence. As of this week, at least 28 states had taken up consideration of gun bills this year, according to new data compiled by the National Conference of State Legislatures. More than 70 bills have been put forward...

The federal government should stop enforcing the Controlled Substances Act, with its draconian definition of marijuana, in Washington and Colorado, which voted last November to legalize and tax the growing and sale of cannabis, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi told interviewers Monday. “The state (Colorado) has spoken: The law has been passed. There are issues with taxation and regulation, and we should get on with it,” Pelosi told the editorial board of the Denver Post.

Your constitutional rights have been repealed in ten states. No, this isn't a joke. It is not exaggeration or hyperbole. If you are in ten states in the United States, your some of your rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights have been made null and void. And it is not just those ten states. Those are just the states where everyone who lives in those states has lost some of their constitutional rights. The sad truth is that there are only fourteen states where this stripping of the rights of American citizens has not happened. What is going on?...

States across the country are trying to protect gun ownership from the long arm of Washington by proposing bills declaring that firearms made and kept within their borders are not subject to federal restrictions. Nine states have proposed such legislation since President Obama and fellow Democrats in the Senate began trying to tighten federal gun laws in the wake of several mass shootings that occurred within months of each other. “There’s a lot of momentum,” Montana activist Gary Marbut told FoxNews.com on Monday. Marbut was behind the original Firearms Freedom Act, which says the Commerce Clause allowing Congress to regulate...

It is a matter of public record that the United States Senate is a terrible place where serious policy issues are ignored; routine votes are occasionally delayed over concerns about non-existent terrorist groups; and proverbial cans are proverbially kicked down the proverbial road of sadness, gridlock, and despair. What's less clear is why the Senate is such a congress of louts. Is it the endless pressure to raise money? The never-ending campaign? The fact that Americans hold lots of substantive disagreements on important things and are themselves—it's been said—somewhat dysfunctional? Actually, according to Georgia state Rep. Buzz Brockaway, the biggest...

While Congress debated firearm related violence on Capitol Hill in response to President Obama’s call for enhanced control laws, Arizona’s state lawmakers approved a legislative measure that would block the federal government from enforcing gun laws within the state. Senate Bill 1112, if signed into law would make it a class 6 felony for: "officials, agents or employees of the federal government from enforcing or attempting to enforce such federal laws that any act, order, law, statute, rule or regulation of the U.S. government relating to a personal firearm, accessory or ammunition that is owned or manufactured commercially or privately...

Nebraska State Senator Kintner will be submitting LB482 which will ban Agenda 21 in the state of Nebraska. It's based upon the Alabama law which was passed in 2012. Here's the link so you can read the bill http://www.nebraskalegislature.gov/FloorDocs/Current/PDF/Intro/LB482.pdf Read below the action details....

The bill co-sponsored by state Sen. Don Shooter, four other senators and several members of the House of Representatives would bar enforcement of new federal laws affecting semi-automatic firearms or high-capacity magazines. It also makes any federal official trying to enforce such laws guilty of a felony and allows the state Attorney General to defend anyone prosecuted for violating federal gun laws if the gun was made in Arizona, among other provisions.

When They Come For Your Guns, You Will Turn Them Over Posted By Jim Karger On August 13, 2012 In Featured,international living,Legislation,The Daily Reckoning “When they come for my gun, they will have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands,” is a common refrain I often hear from the Neo-Cons when there is a threat, credible or otherwise, that the US government is going to take their firearms. And, when I hear this crazy talk, I agree with them openly. “You are right. They will pry your gun from your cold dead hands,” which I often follow with...

State Rep. Sean Roberts will be among 15 bill authors of a measure named the Oklahoma Firearms Freedom Act. House Bill 2021 would assert the Second Amendment rights of Oklahomans by exempting guns or ammunition made in the state from federal regulations. The bill specifies that to qualify for the exemption the guns must be clearly marked as “Made in Oklahoma” and kept within state boundaries. In 2010, the legislation was introduced as Senate Bill 1685, but was vetoed by then Gov. Brad Henry after passing in both the House and Senate.

Rallies have been scheduled to protest Barack Obama’s gun agenda, members of Congress are pondering their resistance and American consumers are speaking daily with ever-new records for gun purchases. Now states are getting into action, with several legislatures already developing bills that would simply pull the rug from under the president’s agenda by specifying that unconstitutional rules or regulations, or executive orders, won’t be allowed. Rep. Kendell Kroeker of Wyoming introduced HB 104, The Firearms Protection Act, and spoke to WND about the bill. “The new bill expands to any gun owned in Wyoming and any gun regulation handed down...

Missouri conservatives proposed a bill that will punish feds violating the Second Amendment with jail time. The Tenth Amendment Center reported: Introduced by Missouri State Representative Casey Guernsey, with 61 co-sponsors, is the Missouri 2nd Amendment Preservation Act. House Bill 170 (HB170) would nullify any and all federal acts, orders, laws, statutes, rules, or regulations of the federal government on personal firearms, firearm accessories, and ammunition. The bill states, in part: “Any official, agent, or employee of the federal government who enforces or attempts to enforce any act, order, law, statute, rule, or regulation of the federal government upon a...

This week, Wyoming lawmakers introduced a bill banning the federal government from enforcing an assault weapons ban or a prohibition on high-capacity magazines in the state, calling the effort an attempt to “take the Second Amendment seriously.” The bill, which is sponsored by eight Wyoming state representatives and two state senators, calls for federal agents who attempt to enforce those measures to be imprisoned for at least one year and up to five years, and fined a maximum of $5,000. It also contains broad language prohibiting any “public servant … or dealer selling any firearm in this state” from enforcing...

CHEYENNE — Some Wyoming lawmakers are pushing to pre-empt any federal crackdown on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in the aftermath of last month's school shooting in Connecticut. A bill pending in the Wyoming Legislature would specify that any federal limitation on guns would be unenforceable. It also would make it a state felony for federal agents to try to enforce restrictions. The bill comes as Vice President Joe Biden is set to deliver gun-control proposals to President Barack Obama on Tuesday. Obama has said reducing gun violence is a top priority following the massacre of 20 children and six...

Wyoming lawmakers propose bill to nullify new federal gun laws January 10, 2013 | 11:03 am 202Comments Charlie Spiering Commentary Staff Writer The Washington Examiner Wyoming lawmakers have proposed a new bill that, if passed, would nullify any federal restrictions on guns, threatening to jail federal agents attempting to confiscate guns, ammunition magazines or ammunition. The bill – HB0104 – states that “any federal law which attempts to ban a semi-automatic firearm or to limit the size of a magazine of a firearm or other limitation on firearms in this state shall be unenforceable in Wyoming.” The bill is sponsored...

I was recently hired to review the Supreme Court opinion in the case of Texas v. White, 74 U.S. 700 (1869). The opinion in that matter was written by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, who had served in Lincoln's cabinet during the Civil War prior to his appointment as chief justice. In the recent talk of secession, this case is often thrown out as having settled the matter legally, just as the Civil War settled the matter militarily. This memorandum of course does not address the wisdom of secession and does not advocate secession. It is devoted solely to analysis...

December 14 has come and gone—and President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—better known as Obamacare—has received a stunning blow. State governments had until December 14, 2012 to decide whether or not they would build their own health insurance exchange, an online service that would allow individuals to purchase private health insurance if it wasn’t provided for by their employees. That date has now passed, and the exchange has been rebuked by half the states—with 25 state governments refusing to participate in this critical component of Obamacare. Their refusal won’t stop exchanges in their states. Under the law, states...

States must commit to fully expanding their Medicaid programs to take advantage of generous funding in the federal health care law, the Obama administration said Monday. The ruling affects a federal-state program that covers nearly 60 million low-income and severely disabled people, caught in a tug-of-war between Republican governors and the Democratic administration. President Barack Obama’s health care law expanded Medicaid to cover people up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line, or about $15,400 for an individual. The change mainly affects low-income adults without children at home, as well as low-income parents who can’t get coverage under current...

For decades, it has been obvious that there are irreconcilable differences between Americans who want to control the lives of others and those who wish to be left alone. Which is the more peaceful solution: Americans using the brute force of government to beat liberty-minded people into submission, or simply parting company? In a marriage, where vows are ignored and broken, divorce is the most peaceful solution. Similarly, our constitutional and human rights have been increasingly violated by a government instituted to protect them. Americans who support constitutional abrogation have no intention of mending their ways. Since Barack Obama’s re-election,...

The Obama administration is strategizing how to fight legal pot in Colorado and Washington, reports Charlie Savage of The New York Times. While "no decision" is "imminent," Savage reports that senior level White House and Justice Department officials are considering "legal action against Colorado and Washington that could undermine voter-approved initiatives." A taskforce made up of Main Justice, the DEA, the State Department, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy is currently considering two courses of action, reports Savage: One option is for federal prosecutors to bring some cases against low-level marijuana users of the sort they until now...

Erick Erickson informs his conservative readers that Sen.-elect Ted Cruz, the agreed-upon star of the new GOP class, has picked Chip Roy as his chief of staff. Why they should be happy: Chip currently works for Governor Rick Perry. If you’ve ever read Governor Perry’s book Fed Up!, well, you know Chip Roy as the guy who helped put pen to paper for the Governor and helped shape Governor Perry’s thinking on federalism issues. That represents no change from what we expected -- Cruz was always going to join the Mike Lee/Rand Paul Appeal to Reason caucus. It's just good...

Five Republican governors rejected on Friday a major provision of President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law that calls on U.S. states to set up online health insurance markets where consumers can purchase private coverage at federally subsidized rates. That makes it likely that the federal government will establish its own markets, known as healthcare exchanges, in those states and potentially supplant state control of private individual insurance markets. But in what could be a sign of thawing relations between administration officials and some state Republican leaders, three of the five governors -- representing Ohio, Michigan and Florida -- expressed a...

<p>Presumably, a proposal being developed in Texas right now won’t be necessary should its petition on the White House website to secede from the union be successful.</p> <p>But if not, the Lone Star state apparently wants to be prepared to challenge whatever it views as a federal encroachment on the rights of the state, or its citizens.</p>

At the close of 2011, Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act for the year 2012. In it are what some constitutional experts consider to be some of the greatest constitutional violations in American history. At issue are sections 1021 and 1022 which, in essence, create a new power for the federal government to “indefinitely detain” – without due process – any person. Indefinitely. That’s little different than kidnapping.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott, one of the most vocal critics of the federal health care overhaul, is dropping his staunch opposition to the law. Scott said in an interview Tuesday with the Associated Press that he now wants to negotiate with the federal government. He said it's time for Republicans to offer solutions to help families after they lost their bid to defeat President Barack Obama. "The election is over and President Obama won," Scott said. "I'm responsible for the families of Florida. … If I can get to yes, I want to get to yes."

At the close of 2011, Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act for the year 2012. In it are what some constitutional experts consider to be some of the greatest constitutional violations in American history. At issue are sections 1021 and 1022 which, in essence, create a new power for the federal government to “indefinitely detain” – without due process – any person. Indefinitely. That’s little different than kidnapping. In response, there’s been a bit of a firestorm from people across the political spectrum. Local communities in Colorado sent out the first warning shots, passing resolutions and ordinances rejecting...

Contrary to popular myth, states are under no obligation to expand Medicaid or create a health insurance exchange, and they should refuse to do either. That from Michael F. Cannon, director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute. He argues that the costs to the private sector will be significant if states agree to create exchanges.

President Obama has won reelection, and his administration has asked state officials to decide by Friday, November 16, whether their state will create one of Obamacare’s health-insurance “exchanges.” States also have to decide whether to implement the law’s massive expansion of Medicaid. The correct answer to both questions remains a resounding no. State-created exchanges mean higher taxes, fewer jobs, and less protection of religious freedom. States are better off defaulting to a federal exchange. The Medicaid expansion is likewise too costly and risky a proposition. Republican Governors Association chairman Bob McDonnell (R.,Va.) agrees, and has announced that Virginia will implement...

(CNSNews.com) – Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said recently that--"especially after last term"--he does not know if he is confident the Constitution can be restored to its original meaning. He likened his own efforts to do so to the character "Frodo" in the Lord of the Rings, who fights the good fight not certain he will win. While discussing his new book Reading Law at Stanford University on Oct. 19, the Hoover Institution’s Peter Robinson quoted to Scalia a passage from Scalia's book, Reading Law: "Originalism does not always provide an easy answer, or even a clear one. Originalism is...

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The slogan goes, "Don't Mess With Texas." But with President Barack Obama in the White House a more appropriate cry might be: "Try it and we'll sue." The Texas attorney general's office has filed 24 lawsuits against the federal government since Obama took office — litigation that has cost the state $2.58 million and more than 14,113 hours spent by staff and state lawyers working those cases. ....Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said the costs are worth it, calling the litigation "a fight against the unprecedented ideology coming from the Obama administration." In an interview, he...

I wish the Republican Platform was binding. Why? Because the GOP, for all intents and purposes, has just proposed to eliminate the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Energy, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Health and Human Services, along with a host of other government programs, agencies, and departments.More specifically, they endorsed the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which means they put themselves on record in favor of getting rid of all federal spending and intervention that is inconsistent with the Founding Fathers’ vision of a...

There recently appeared an article at Salon critical of the idea of repealing the 17th Amendment. In it, author Alex Seitz-Wald explains how the desire to return the selection of U.S. Senators back over to the state legislatures, as opposed to direct election now, developed, and why it would be harmful if tried. In this piece, the first of two on the subject, I’ll summarize the argument, argue the benefits of repealing this amendment, and correct a few points made by Seitz-Wald. His overview is that the idea had been a “hobbyhorse of the fringe right” for quite some time,...

The U.S. Government is suing New Mexico for perceived damages in a groundwater case, and the prize is control of the state's water. In May 2011 we learned that the EPA was beginning to change the way America's waters are controlled, and that control was to be extended to your ponds and puddles. Happening now in New Mexico: The lawyers told the committee [New Mexico Legislature Water and Natural Resources] the U.S. government is apparently trying to take over legal management of the state's water supply. The federal government has asserted claims for damages to groundwater in a natural resource...

Here’s the blueprint for how the states can eviscerate three central pillars of Obamacare, crippling it, and set the stage for replacing it if Mitt Romney takes the White House and the GOP takes the Senate this November. Many are focusing on whether Congress will refuse to fund all the provisions of Obamacare that require federal money. While very important, this is only one barrel of what must be a double-barreled approach. The other is what states can do to dismantle Obamacare. And if we pursue both of these simultaneously, we can defeat Obamacare and safeguard the greatest healthcare system...

Editor's Note: This column was coauthor by Ken Klukowski, a columnist at Breitbart.comHere’s the blueprint for how the states can reject three central pillars of Obamacare and set the stage for replacing it, if Mitt Romney takes the White House and the GOP takes the Senate this November. Two reasons compel dismantling Obamacare. First is restoring individual liberty by empowering states against the national government and citizens against both. Second is recognizing that free markets outperform centrally-planned markets, so private-sector healthcare will better serve Americans than government-controlled Obamacare ever could. However disappointing the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Obamacare’s individual...

Until the late 1980s, many, if not most, states and countries did not have defined academic "content standards." Instead they had a curriculum, a program of study that described what should be taught and often how in every grade. Some programs were regional, others were state or nationwide, and some even were local to a school or a district. In some states they were mandatory; in others they were advisory in nature. In the late 1980s — in part as the result of global competition, of recognition that different schools offered programs of widely differing quality and of the 1984...

Expecting to extend quality health care access to millions of Americans by pressing them into the existing Medicaid system is a little like expecting to win the Indy 500 in a 1965 Chevy Corvair. It’s just not the right tool for the job. A fundamental flaw in the Obama administration’s government health care plan is that Medicaid is already on the brink of failure. Dumping millions more people into the Medicaid mix will not save it, will not cut any costs and will not improve overall access to quality care. In Texas, we have no interest in following the federal...

Governor Rick Perry said on Monday Texas will not implement an expansion of the Medicaid program or create a health insurance exchange, placing the state with the highest percentage of people without insurance outside key parts of President Barack Obama's signature law. The announcement makes Texas the most populous state that has rejected the provisions. Some 6.2 million people are without health insurance in Texas, or 24.6 percent of the state population, the highest percentage in the nation. California has more people without insurance but a lower percentage. Perry joined fellow Republican governors of Florida, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Mississippi and...

We need the 2010 tea party sweeps to continue in 2012 and beyond!! We need to increase the conservative majority in the house, take the majority in the senate and continue sweeping conservatives into as many state and local offices as we possibly can all across this great land!! No matter who wins the presidency, we're going to need the states and the people and FR to hold their feet to the fire!! Block the feds!! Demand our states reassert their tenth amendment rights and powers and push the feds the hell OUT of our state and local business!! And...

“I disagree with the Supreme Court’s ruling and believe that state governments were intended to serve as a check on the federal government,” said Ritze, R-Broken Arrow. “The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is better known as ObamaCare, is an example of federal overreach and my legislation will authorize the state to resist it and ban the enforcement of it.”

We need the 2010 tea party sweeps to continue in 2012 and beyond!! We need to increase the conservative majority in the house, take the majority in the senate and continue sweeping conservatives into as many state and local offices as we possibly can all across this great land!! No matter who wins the presidency, we're going to need the states and the people and FR to hold their feet to the fire!! Block the feds!! Demand our states reassert their tenth amendment rights and powers and push the feds the hell OUT of our state and local business!! And...

PHOENIX -- Voters could get the right to overrule federal laws and mandates under the terms of an initiative filed late Thursday. The Arizona Constitution already says the federal Constitution "is the supreme law of the land." This measure, if approved in November, it would add language saying that federal document may not be violated by any government -- including the federal government. More to the point, it would allow Arizonans "to reject any federal action that they determine violates the United States Constitution." That could occur through a vote of the state House and Senate with consent of the...

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Fear Obamacare is impossible to repeal? Think again! Here's the surprisingly easy path to dumping this law.