Posted on 09/24/2009 12:24:51 AM PDT by kingattax
NASHVILLE -- The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has told Tennessee gun dealers to disregard a state statute that exempts firearms made and sold inside Tennessee from federal gun laws and registration.
The ATF says the federal laws still apply regardless of the state's move.
The Tennessee legislature considered and approved several bills this year to reduce restrictions on firearms, including one bill that its sponsors labeled the "Tennessee Firearms Freedom Act." It passed overwhelmingly -- 87-1 in the House and 22-7 in the Senate -- despite warnings by some lawmakers that it could subject Tennessee citizens to federal prosecution and imprisonment.
"This bill simply asserts that if a firearms and/or ammunition is made totally within the state of Tennessee, then the federal government has no jurisdiction over that item in any fashion, so long as it remains in the state and outside of interstate commerce," Sen. Mae Beavers, R-Mt. Juliet, the bill's sponsor, said on the Senate floor when it passed there in June.
The bill was a two-fer for conservatives in the legislature: a gun bill and a state sovereignty bill rolled into one.
"An effort by the federal government to regulate intrastate commerce under the guise of powers implied by the interstate commerce clause could only result in encroachment of the state's power to regulate commerce within its borders," said Beavers.
But ATF Asst. Director Carson W. Carroll, head of the agency's enforcement programs and services, sent an "Open Letter to all Tennessee Firearms Licensees" a month later that explained the agency's position on the law.
"The act purports to exempt personal firearms, firearms accessories and ammunition manufactured in the state and which remain in the state from most federal firearms laws and regulations," Carroll wrote. "However, because the act conflicts with federal firearms laws and regulations, federal law supercedes the act and all provisions of the (federal) Gun Control Act and the National Firearms Act and their corresponding regulations continue to apply."
The letter is posted on the Tennessee Firearms Association's Web site with this unsigned commentary by the association: "The ATF -- as expected -- has issued a letter in which it disregards the 10th Amendment restrictions on federal power (as seems to be the trend since the late 1930s) and has notified Tennessee's federal firearms dealers that the Tennessee Firearms Freedom Act is meaningless. ... We expected such from a tyranny that no longer lives within the bounds of its express authority."
But ATF Nashville Special Agent-in-Charge James M. Cavanaugh said several U.S. Supreme Court rulings have upheld the federal gun laws.
"The Constitution says the Supreme Court interprets the law," he said. "The ATF hasn't ruled this, the Supreme Court has, and we're a law enforcement agency."
Cavanaugh said Tennessee has nearly 2,000 licensed gun dealers and manufacturers and the agency has received no complaints from them about the letter.
"It's analogous to a speed limit. If the speed limit on the interstate is set at 70, a city along the interstate can't come along and say there is no speed limit on the interstate through our city. The highway patrol could still enforce the speed limit," he said.
Although Montana was the first state to pass its version of the Firearms Freedom Act, Tennessee was the first to implement it because the Montana law specifies an effective date of Oct. 1.
Although the bill passed overwhelmingly -- and with no debate in the House -- it had its critics in the Senate who warned of its likely outcome. And Cavanaugh said some legislators inquired about the bill before its passage.
"If one of the citizens of our state reads about the passage of this legislation and uses it and relies upon it and goes out and does something ... couldn't they be convicted under federal law?" asked Sen. Andy Berke, D-Chattanooga. "I see this as a real danger to our citizens."
All the Sheriffs in the State should promptly inform the Feds that any Federal Agent found on any property in Tennessee will be arrested for trespassing.
ATF...good name for a quickie mart...and not much else.
Hmm. Will Tennessee assume responsibility for keeping these firearms and this ammunition within its borders? If a firearm, or ammunition, purchased in TN is not federally registered and used in a crime in another state, will the second state have standing to sue Tennessee?
It’s called States Rights.
IT is what we fought a civil war over, not slavery like the media try to push.
And if this marxist p.o.s. doesn’t be careful we will have another war over states rights.
Hey federal govt. F. U.
Tennesseans en masse should say to the Feds: you try to enforce your interstate commerce gun laws within Tennessee and we will just stop abiding by ANY federal laws and you can just come here and do all the work! Maybe the Tennessee gun law should have had that trigger in it.
There was a time in Kaleefornia when FBI authorities needed to have the assistance of Kaleefornia peace officers to make an arrest. It might be time to go back to those days if certain agencies don't back off their power grabs.
I would assume they’d go after the criminal.
By the way, look at Gonzales v. Oregon, assisted suicide.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=000&invol=04-623
Of course, we’ll hear that the Bush admin and our 3 conservative justices opposed Oregon law.
We need to keep the focus on the inalienable right to life - can’t agree to be killed, can’t commit suicide, and have the right to protect your life.
The 2nd Amendment says: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
The 10th Amendment says: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
If socialists believed in the rule of law, Obama’s administration would admit that Tennesseee is right.
Regulation of intrastate commerce is a retained power of the states. I hope TN formally challenges the ATF, as the case would go directly to the Supreme Court.
Hurray for Tennesee, Hurray for Montana. I am hoping for 26 states as a majority to overule the feds. Sure hope there are at least that many the still believe in states rights to kick the tyrants in the nuts as required.
This should be a ‘no win’ situation for the feds because of the The Posse Comitatus Act. The Second Amendment guarantees the states the rights to bear arms and this is definitely why it was implemented. We must restore our federal system of government by demanding devolution of power to the states is a must.
I’m surprised he made such a ridiculous comparison (the interstate speed limit law). He compares it to a STATE trooper applying the STATE law within a STATE.
What the ATF is doing is the equivalent of sending Federal agents to enforce a speed limit contrary to the one a State sets. Which of course they’d have no jurisdiction doing.
(Never mind that Fedzilla extorts States into speed limits via highway funds; another example where we need to starve the beast in Washington.)
“All the Sheriffs in the State should promptly inform the Feds that any Federal Agent found on any property in Tennessee will be arrested for trespassing.”
That would be an excellent idea ... and not only for Tenessee.
"It's analogous to a speed limit. If the speed limit on the interstate is set at 70, a city along the interstate can't come along and say there is no speed limit on the interstate through our city. The highway patrol could still enforce the speed limit," he said.
If TN was asserting freedom for guns and ammo made within the state for state residents then the appropriate analogy should be the highway patrol enforcing "their speed limit" on back roads and private lanes.
Maybe not reading this correctly?
I believe the ATF to be the second most dangerous threat to the liberty and freedom of American citizens. The first, of course, being the ACLU. But then again, the Democrats in Congress deserve a (dis)-honorable mention when it comes to stripping us of our G-D given rights.
Uh, right now there is no "federal registration" of firearms. And hopefully, there never will be.
Exceedingly unlikely to happen. Our current Governor is a 'Rat....
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