Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Constitutional Crisis Brewing in Tenn. & Montana. Batfe vs State Legislatures?

http://www.newswithviews.com/baldwin/baldwin523.htm
Excerpt:

"If we were writing a Declaration of Independence today, in which we would "let Facts be submitted to a candid world," the examples of federal abuse of power would be so multitudinous it would be difficult to contain them to a single document. The question is not, "Has the current federal government become tyrannical?" The question is, "How long will the States continue to tolerate it?"

For example, within the last couple of months, the States of Montana and Tennessee have each passed their own "Firearms Freedom Act." Briefly stated, the bills provide that any firearms or ammunition that are manufactured, sold, and kept within the State are not subject to federal law or federal regulation. Clearly, Montana and Tennessee have the Second, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution on their side.

Of course, the Constitution doesn't matter to the federal government. On July 16 of this year, BATFE Assistant Director Carson Carroll sent an "Open Letter" to all firearms dealers within the States of Tennessee and Montana, telling them in no uncertain terms, "Federal law supersedes the [Tennessee or Montana] Act, and all provisions of the Gun Control Act and the National Firearms Act, and their corresponding regulations, continue to apply."

You see folks, in the minds of the politicians and bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., there is no such thing as constitutional government. There is no such thing as State autonomy. There is no such thing as balance of power. To the miscreants in Washington, D.C., there is only federal authority. To them, these States United are merely colony-subjects, who must bow to an omnipotent, ubiquitous federal power that knows no limits and no boundaries."

BATFE calls the shots on any FFL holder. Wonder if TN amd MT can issue a state firearm license for those goods?

[bleep]' Lincoln.....

Maybe it is time the states should secede from the UNION

Mo info...

New gun law aimed at asserting sovereignty
By KAHRIN DEINES - Associated Press - 04/16/09
Gov. Brian Schweitzer has signed into law a bill that aims to exempt Montana-made guns from federal regulation, adding firepower to a battery of legislative efforts to assert states� rights across the nation.

�It�s a gun bill, but it�s another way of demonstrating the sovereignty of the state of Montana,� Democrat Schweitzer said.

Since the law applies only to those guns that are made and kept in Montana, its impact is limited. The state is home to just a handful of specialty gun makers, known for recreating rifles used to settle the West, and most of their customers are out-of-state.

But supporters of the new law hope it triggers a court case testing the legal basis for federal rules governing gun sales.

�What we need here is for Montana to be able to handle Montana�s business and affairs,� bill sponsor Rep. Joel Boniek, a Republican and wilderness guide from Livingston, told fellow lawmakers during the bill�s House debate.

The measure is one of many introduced by state lawmakers across the nation seeking to confront what some see as a federal overreach into state matters that will be extended with the national stimulus plan.

Along with the gun bill, Montana legislators are considering a resolution that affirms the 10th Amendment principle that the federal government only has those powers that are specifically given to it by the U.S. Constitution.

�The whole goal is to awaken the people so that we can return to a properly grounded republic,� Rep. Michael More, R-Gallatin Gateway and the Montana resolution�s sponsor, said at a House committee hearing Wednesday.

As many as fifteen other Legislatures have also been mulling resolutions that buck federal control in states such as New Hampshire, South Carolina, Missouri and Oklahoma.

�The balance has swung far to the extreme to the empowerment of the federal government, and to the harm of the individual states,� More said.

Opponents of the state sovereignty bids, however, warn they could give legitimacy to the kind of anti-government ideas that fueled the militia movement in Montana and elsewhere.

�When you really actually get in and look at it there is a lot of what we feel is very dangerous, very anti-government language that reads very similar to posters for the militia movement in the 1990s,� said Travis McAdam, the interim director of the Montana Human Rights Network, a group formed to oppose racism and extremism.

One of the few state Senators who voted against the gun bill � Sen. Christine Kaufmann, D-Helena � is that group�s director when the Legislature is not in session. She ties the bills� proliferation to fears about the Democratic administration of President Barack Obama and stimulus spending.

�I do think that there is a kind of renewed vehemence to this kind of right-wing rhetoric being spewed by conservative talk show hosts to rile the troops and they are using the fact that we have a Democratic, black president as one of their rallying calls,� Kaufmann said.

The Montana bills are being sponsored by freshman legislators who ran as part of a broader effort to oust more moderate Republicans in last spring�s elections.

House Resolution 3, the one sponsored by More, follows another states� rights declaration that deadlocked in the same committee earlier this session, although the committee�s chairman said it may have a shot on its second try.

House Bill 246, the Montana-made gun bill, cleared the Legislature easily before reaching the governor�s desk.

Its supporters next plan to find a �squeaky clean� Montanan who wants to send a note to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives threatening to build and sell about 20 rifles without federal dealership licensing. If the ATF says it�s illegal, the gun bill�s backers plan to file a lawsuit in federal court with the goal of launching a legal showdown that lands in the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Montana Shooting Sports Association, which drafted the bill, has said it will raise the money to pay for any legal costs.

�It doesn�t cost us any money and I like guns,� Schweitzer said after signing the bill.

�I like big guns, I like little guns, I like pistols, I like rifles, and I would like to buy a gun that�s made in Montana,� Schweitzer said.

I am a fan of people that want to run their own lives. Also of these people with the courage to back their their own convictions.
With that having been said, I hope these respective states' budgets are strong enough, that they can survive with out any federal help. That will be the club that the feds will try to use to bring them back into line.
It is a pity that these two states don't share a common boarder. It would make a more viable unit.
This is the line of thinking, in my opinion, that a lot of other states should consider. Hopefully there are more that haven't came up on the radar screen yet.
Good luck to them.
I am quite sure that my state would have to be drug to this thought process, kicking and sreaming.

Yep.

Yep.

Exactly right. The governor should send an open letter to the BATFE stating their intention to arrest and try for kidnapping any agent attempting to arrest anyone acting within the provisions of state law on this matter.

Good point.

Damned straight.

I grew up in South Dakota. I know the mind set. I'd move to Montana if they went.

While I support the concept, I doubt it will survive the courts. The Federal government won;t give up power over the states. Surely the Civil war showed that. These days all you need to do is cut Federal funding. with the conditions of most state's budgets, that will be enough, although at least Montana still has a budget surplus.

What purpose would that serve? No state license are needed that I know of.

The BATFE would have a harder time in court explaining why they arrested them for selling firearms if they had a state license and only sold them within the state. This would leave open the issue of the Tenth Amendment for an appeal where they can reexamine the justification for permitting the Federal Government to issue and enforce such licenses, which is clearly in violation of both the plain meaning and original intent of the Tenth Amendment.

The interstate commerce clause covers everything, doncha know?

Yeah, so they say, but I imagine that Founders and Framers would be positively perplexed at the rationale for that.

Whatever happened tom 'enumerated power'?

Exactly. The Civil War happened to them, I guess.

would be logical for the states to withhold federal withholding in response. .

Yep, need a good fiscally responsible state to pull this off.

Won't be NC as long as Bev (stick me with your stimulus) Perdue is governor.