Kansas: we made it all by ourselves
Update: The ink isn’t dry on the governor’s signature, and Eric Holder has already asked, “What do you people think you’re doing?”
The state-based “Second Amendment Protection Act” tries to play a little legal game, declaring that federal gun laws don’t apply to firearms manufactured and owned in Kansas that do not cross state lines. It also takes the next step of telling law enforcement that federal laws can’t be enforced in Kansas on firearms manufactured and owned in Kansas.
This is the sort of legal thinking that was common in the South before the Civil War, but which was resolved by the end of the conflict. A state doesn’t have the discretionary power to nullify federal gun laws.
– o O o –
There are some states that have more Tenth Amendment morons than Minnesota. Since the great fluorescent light bulb hysteria seems to have receded, it’s on to something new for the Tenthers! And it’s a perfect issue for them: guns. If you thought that the loss of an incandescent light bulb was cause for hysteria, kids, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.
The low-watt incandescent light bulb known as the Kansas legislature, well, let’s hear it from Pro Publica:
In mid-April, Kansas passed a law asserting that federal gun regulations do not apply to guns made and owned in Kansas. Under the law, Kansans could manufacture and sell semi-automatic weapons in-state without a federal license or any federal oversight.
An entire legislature full of Tom Emmers and Steve Drazkowskis. Oh my.
The theory here is that a gun made in Kansas is not subject to federal regulation under the Commerce Clause. Laying aside the fact that would be virtually impossible to insure that every component and the ammunition in a firearm was Kansas sourced, it wouldn’t make a difference anyway. This is pure political theater. Even the Heritage Foundation says it’s playing to the rubes.
The aforesaid Steve Drazkowski dropped a similar bill in the hopper in Minnesota, along with Tony Cornish and Cindy Pugh, to do something similar. It never went anywhere. In February, the Draz engaged in a little imagined braggadocio on the subject for Left.MN.
The Draz on HF 419 from LEFT MN on Vimeo.
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