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To: robertpaulsen
They can prohibit the sale of sex toys, for example. Since Congress has chosen to regulate marijuana, the states are bound by the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution to comply.

Are you saying that, despite federal action in this area, states should still be allowed to regulate marijuana as they please?

I didn't say that at all -- I simply asked you a question. I can't get past your logical inconsistencies. When you agree with a federal law (War on Drugs), you invoke the Supremacy Clause, i.e. that the Constitution and federal statutes are the Supreme Law of the Land, and states are bound to uphold the federal law as supreme. But in the case of RKBA, you take a clearly enumerated Constitutional right, and subjugate it to the control of each state legislature without regard to the Supremacy Clause.

363 posted on 04/24/2006 2:21:26 PM PDT by Ryan Spock (Former Internet Addict -- Making good progress with help from an online support group)
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To: Ryan Spock
"But in the case of RKBA, you take a clearly enumerated Constitutional right, and subjugate it to the control of each state legislature without regard to the Supremacy Clause."

I said, "As with any law, absent Congressional action, the state has the power to regulate the commerce in their state." When the federal government passed the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, each state was bound by that law under the Supremacy Clause.

You'll have to be more specific when you talk about my inconsistencies -- I don't know what you're talking about.

The U.S. Constitution does not enumerate rights. The U.S. Constitution states which rights will be protected from federal infringement (The 14th amendment "incorporated" some of the Bill of Rights and extended their protection to the state level -- the 2nd amendment was not one of them). Some of the rights are very specific, some are vague (the right to "liberty", for example). If there is a question about whether some right is indeed protected (the right to dance nude, for example), the U.S. Supreme Court decides the issue.

Every court in the land, every one, has stated that the second amendment of the U.S. Constitution only applies to the federal government. In other words, it protects the RKBA from federal infringement.

Furthermore, every federal court in every court decision (save one court in one decision) has stated that the second amendment of the U.S. Constitution only protects a collective RKBA (ie., as part of a state militia). In other words, the federal government may not infringe the states' ability to arm the citizens and form a state militia. That's all the second amendment does.

Your individual RKBA is defined and protected by your state.

378 posted on 04/25/2006 6:07:30 AM PDT by robertpaulsen
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