Free Republic

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...

MISSOULA, MONT. --(Ammoland.com)- Plaintiffs in litigation to validate the principles of the Montana Firearms Freedom Act (MFFA) have appealed an expected but adverse federal district court decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The plaintiffs in MSSA v. Holder include the Montana Shooting Sports Association (MSSA), the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), and MSSA President Gary Marbut of Missoula. The MFFA is designed to test the power of Congress to regulate everything without limits under the narrow power given to Congress in the Constitution to “regulate commerce … among the states.” The MFFA declares that any firearms, ammunition and firearm...

HELENA, Mont. -- The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence is joining the federal government's fight to stop states that want to exempt themselves from national gun control laws, arguing the effort threatens public safety.The gun control advocates and the U.S. Department of Justice both filed new arguments Tuesday in the ongoing legal battle over federal gun control and states rights.The issue was sparked with the "firearm freedoms act" first enacted in Montana last year and subsequently in several other states, and is leading to a constitutional showdown over the reach of Congress into state borders.The states argue they should...

OKLAHOMA CITY — Gov. Brad Henry on Tuesday vetoed a bill to exempt Oklahoma-made guns and ammunition from federal regulations, saying the measure would make it easier for criminals to obtain weapons and endanger citizens and law enforcement. Similar to laws passed in at least four other states, the "Oklahoma Firearms Freedom Act" states that firearms, gun accessories or ammunition produced in Oklahoma would not be subject to interstate commerce laws and federal regulations if the items remain in the state. The bill does not apply to certain large firearms and exploding ammunition. "I'm a strong supporter of the Second...

Anchorage, AK --(AmmoLand.com)- The “Alaska Firearms Freedom Act” HB 186 is still sitting in the finance committee. We are on the edge of getting it passed if Senator Stedman will schedule it for hearing. Two more states have passed this important legislation while our finance committee has been sitting on it. I spoke with Sen Stedman’s office this morning and got no committment for hearing it. Please let him know how important you feel the Alaska Firearms Freedom Act is to you. Now is the time to bombard each of these Committee Members with e-mails and telephone calls showing our...

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed HB 2307--Arizona's version of the Firearms Freedom Act, into law. This makes six states (Monatana, Tennessee, Utah, Wyoming, and South Dakota are the others) that have some version of the Firearms Freedom Act on the books as law. Idaho will become the seventh, if and when Governor Butch Otter signs Idaho House Bill 589 into law, as expected. For those unfamiliar with the FFA, it's a challenge to the federal government's grotesquely expansive use of the insterstate commerce clause to regulate--well . . . everything, whether it has anything to do with interstate commerce, or...

Governor Jan Brewer (R) today signed HB2307, Arizona's version of the Firearms Freedom Act, making Arizona the sixth state, behind Montana and Tennessee, who passed theirs in 2009, and Wyoming, Utah, and South Dakota which did so earlier this year.For those not familiar, the FFA is a Tenth Amendment as much as a gun rights issue, declaring firearms and accessories manufactured, sold and used within the state to be beyond the reach of federal regulation.After Montana and Tennessee had the audacity last year to pass legislation after actually having read the Constitution, the ATF sent a letter to FFL's in...

Rep. Dick Harwood’s “Idaho Firearms Freedom Act” is headed for the Senate’s amending order, the 14th Order, after senators raised an array of questions this morning about the bill’s wording. They ranged from an “or” that needs to be changed to “and” - to clarify that guns both manufactured and sold in Idaho would be stamped “Made in Idaho” rather than just those manufactured OR sold in Idaho - to serious questions about whether the bill mandates the state’s taxpayers to fund the criminal defense for anyone charged with a federal crime in Idaho while using an Idaho-made gun. Rep....

South Dakota --(AmmoLand.com)- The South Dakota Legislature has passed the South Dakota Firearms Freedom Act and that bill is enroute to the Governor’s desk. Governor Michael Rounds has indicated that he’s comfortable with the SDFFA and will sign the bill when it reaches his office. SD will make the fourth state that has enacted a clone of the Montana Firearms Freedom Act. Once the Wyoming and South Dakota governors sign their respective bills into law, they will join Montana, Tennessee and Utah with enacted laws.

Introduced in the State Senates of both Colorado and South Dakota last week is a bill known as the “Firearms Freedom Act.” If passed, the bill would make state law that “any firearm, firearm accessory, or ammunition that is manufactured commercially or privately in the state and that remains within the borders of the state is not subject to federal law or federal regulation, including registration, under the authority of Congress to regulate interstate commerce.” This now makes Firearms Freedom Acts already passed in Montana and Tennessee, and currently introduced in these 21 states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado Florida, Georgia,...

The United States government has filed a Motion to Dismiss the lawsuit filed by the Montana Shooting Sports Association and the Second Amendment Foundation. The suit was filed the support the Montana Firearms Freedom Act which declares that any firearms made and retained in-state are beyond the authority of Congress under its constitutional power to regulate commerce among the states. The argument is that the Federal government has overstepped its authority in attempting to regulate and tax firearms that never cross a state border. The Feds counter that it is a valid exercise of commerse power because even sales of...

The February 2010 issue of GUNS Magazine is online, and a letter by NRA Life Member David Lundeen regarding my Firearms Freedom Act "Rights Watch" column caught my eye. He cited the September 2009 issue of their American Hunter magazine, and observed: [I]t is clearly stated “Firearms Freedom Act “ supporters have never planned to test these laws in criminal cases, and no one who puts himself in that situation should expect support from the NRA.” It's true. I'm a Life Member and get American Rifleman, and it's on page 18. Their rationale? [T]his kind of litigation faces major obstacles–mainly...

Missouri State Representative Cynthia Davis has introduced the “Firearms Freedom Act” (HB1230) – prefiled for the 2010 legislative session. The bill “Asserts the right of the State of Missouri to regulate the intrastate use and acquisition of certain firearms pursuant to the reserved powers of the state over intrastate commerce and the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.” While the bill’s title focuses solely federal gun regulations, it has far more to do with the 10th Amendment’s mandate that powers not delegated to the federal government are “reserved to the states, respectively, or to the people.” It states:...

Originally introduced and passed in Montana, the FFA declares that any firearms made and retained in-state are beyond the authority of Congress under its constitutional power to regulate commerce among the states. Since its passage in Montana, a clone of the Firearms Freedom Act has been enacted in Tennessee, and has been introduced in the legislatures of Alaska, Texas, South Carolina, Minnesota and Florida. Legislators in many other states have announced that they will introduce FFA clones when their legislatures next convene.The FFA is primarily a Tenth Amendment challenge to the powers of Congress under the “commerce clause,” with firearms...

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 1930) and has notified Tennessee’s federal firearms dealers that the Tennessee Firearms Freedom Act is meaningless. Essentially, ATF is saying to the state of Tennessee that the 10th Amendment no longer exists. We expected such from a tyranny that no longer lives within the bounds of its express authority…

Introduced in the South Carolina State Senate on May 6, 2009, the “Firearms Freedom Act” (s-794) seeks “to provide that a firearm, firearm accessory, or ammunition manufactured and retained in South Carolina is exempt from federal regulation under the commerce clause of the Constitution of the United States.” The bill is sponsored by South Carolina State Senators Bright, Bryant, Mulvaney, Davis, Shoopman, S. Martin and McConnell. They join Montana, Utah, and Texas in an effort to limit federal regulation of guns, and specifically invoke the 9th and 10th Amendments as restrictions on federal power: “the regulation of intrastate commerce is...