Chicago Enacts Restrictive Gun Ordinance In Wake Of McDonald v. Chicago

McDonald v. Chicago ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment incorporates the Second Amendment and as such defines that states, counties and local municipalities must guarantee individuals their right to self protection and be allowed to own a gun(s). The ruling also makes it clear that states, counties and local municipalities cannot create gun laws that supersede federal laws……or can they?

The city of Chicago threw together a gun ordinance after McDonald v. Chicago, which is nothing more than an in-your-face scoffing of the United States Supreme Court, much the same way that Washington, D.C. did after District of Columbia v. Heller. Why wouldn’t Chicago do similar things? D.C. has not really been tested as to the Constitutionality of their restrictive gun laws. After all, District of Columbia v. Heller only ruled that the District’s gun ban was unconstitutional. It did not define what can and cannot be used for gun restrictions. Read more

Do We Fear Exceptionalism?

Where it began, I don’t know. Perhaps we can’t even put a finger on it. Somewhere between here and there America has lost her exceptionalism. Being exceptional sets something or someone apart from all others. Dare we utter the fact that were it not for exceptional people America would not exist today? Why have we grown to fear being exceptional? Why do we now see such blessings from God as amiss?

I’m sure it began long before our obsession with self-esteem. So consumed we became with making sure our kids’ feelings were never hurt, we lost all reason and understanding and began teaching that exceptionalism wasn’t “fair”. (Oh, there’s the four-letter word that should be banned.) Read more

More Elena Kagan Anti Gun Evidence

Ken Klukowski, Townhall, reports that Elena Kagan has shown more signs in the past as being anti-gun and more closely mirrors the same gun philosophies as the President who nominated her.

We learned yesterday that Kagan was “not sympathetic” to one man fighting for his Constitutional right to keep and bear arms. According to Klukowski, as Solicitor General, Kagan did not seek oral argument time or even file a brief in the recent case of McDonald v. Chicago. Read more

Judge Andrew Napolitano Explains Why Obamacare Violates Constitution

Tenth Amendment Push Backs Spreading Across America

Is this all a case of too little too late or are there any legal teeth in the growing actions of states all across the Union in passing legislation that in effect tells the federal government to take a hike?

On this very blog, I have been vigilant in posting information about states proposing, passing and signing legislation in attempts to nullify federal authority of gun control laws forced onto them. But this push back we are witness to is now reaching beyond the Second Amendment. States are passing bills declaring the federal government can’t force them to “buy into” federal run health care. Utah has effectively told the federal government it’s taking back some of it’s lands. Other states don’t want anything to do with federal ID cards, they’re ignoring federal marijuana laws, have put the feds on notice that their local police departments have more authority than they do and that National Guard troops can be recalled by states. Read more

Twenty-Five States Seek “Nullification” Of Federal Gun Control Laws

As of this writing, five states, Montana, Tennessee, Utah, Wyoming and South Dakota, have passed laws through their legislature effectively nullifying the Federal Government’s authority to regulated guns and gun accessories. Two states, Montana and Tennessee, their laws most commonly called Firearms Freedom Acts, have been signed by their governors. The other three are expected to follow suit. In addition to those five states, at least twenty more have introduced similar legislation and another half dozen intend to introduce it. By years end, there could feasibly be well over 30 states making an attempt to tell the Federal Government to butt out of their intrastate gun and gun accessory manufacturing. Read more

The Tea Party Movement Should Stand Alone

Photo from fOTOGLIF

It persists that politicians are clueless about the Tea Party Movement. The TPM is a grassroots effort to bring attention back to the American people that we have a Constitution, that our Federal Government has overstepped its bounds on Constitutional powers granted it by that Constitution and that spending is out of control. Nowhere in that movement is it defined as Democrat or Republican, black or white, male or female, Catholic or Protestant.

The TPM has become a powerful force. Why? Because it is of the people and by the people. Because of the TPM business as usual in the political sphere got upended. We saw that in Virginia and New Jersey. When Scott Brown got elected to the Senate seat in Massachusetts, that is when it become clear to me that Republicans didn’t know what the Tea Party Movement was about either. Read more

McDonald v. Chicago: Does 2nd Amendment Apply To States?

Photo from fOTOGLIF

McDonald v. City of Chicago is about the right of citizens to keep and bear arms in Chicago, right? Just as District of Columbia v. Heller was about the right of the citizens to keep and bear arms in Washington, D.C. Right? Well, the answer is a resounding YES……and NO!

Heller was a victory for gun rights as the ruling declared that the Second Amendment did guarantee an individual, not a state-run militia, the right to keep and bear arms. But it didn’t answer the question as to whether the states and the cities and towns within those states, have the right to limit or restrict gun ownership based on a degree of sovereignty from the federal government. Hopefully, this is what McDonald v. Chicago will answer for us. Read more

Feds Respond to Firearms Freedom Act Lawsuit

Motion to Dismiss “Expected”

MISSOULA – The United States has made its first response to a lawsuit filed in federal district court in Missoula to test the Montana Firearms Freedom Act (MFFA), passed by the 2009 Legislature and signed into law by Governor Schweitzer.

The MFFA declares that any firearms, ammunition or firearms accessories made and retained in Montana are not subject to federal regulation under the power given to Congress in the U.S. Constitution to regulate commerce “among the several states.” The MFFA is a states’ rights challenge on Tenth Amendment grounds, with firearms serving as the vehicle for the challenge. Read more

Rex Rammell’s Plan For Idaho

Dr. Rex Rammell wants to be Governor of Idaho and he has a plan. I’ll guarantee you his plan is nothing you’ve ever heard before but don’t discount it either. It’s catching on in the Gem State.

Washington Introduces “Firearms Freedom Act” Bill

Representative Matt Shea has introduced HB 2709, the Washington Firearms Freedom Act, I believe now the 15th such bill to be introduced copying our Montana Firearms Freedom Act(MFFA).

In MSSA’s lawsuit to validate the principles of the MFFA, we have a preliminary pre-trial conference coming up on February 2. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the United States (defendants in the lawsuit) have not responded to the suit yet.

We will continue to post new information about this movement at:
http://www.FirearmsFreedomAct.com

Gary Marbut, president
Montana Shooting Sports Association
http://www.mtssa.org
author, Gun Laws of Montana
http://www.mtpublish.com

Why Do We Need The Fourteenth Amendment To Reinforce The Bill Of Rights?

Next summer the United States Supreme Court will hear the case of McDonald v. Chicago, which is a challenge to the constitutionality of the city of Chicago’s gun ban. Similar to the most recent gun rights ruling of District of Columbia v. Heller, in which the Supreme Court declared D.C.’s ban unconstitutional and that the Second Amendment guaranteed an individual right to keep and bear arms, the ruling did not define to what extend the states and their local governments can impose their own gun laws.

We have read of late that a Ninth District Federal Appeals Court reaffirmed that the Fourteenth Amendment “incorporates” the Second Amendment, meaning that the 14th Amendment spells out again that the Privileges or Immunities Clause grants the rights of the Bill of Rights to all legal and lawful citizens. It’s a shame that somehow became necessary. Read more

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