http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/01/28/alabama-declares-war-on-constitution-again-introducing-bill-to-ignore-interstate-commerce-clause/
Well, the south is apparently intending to rise again. Not only did one of their congressman file a bill on Monday to eliminate the federal government’s ability to function, the state has decided it should weigh in on ignoring the U.S. Constitution itself.
State Senate Bill #43, titled the “Firearms Freedom Act” is a proposed measure which would, in its own words:Relating to firearms, firearm accessories, and ammunition manufactured and retained within the borders of Alabama; to exempt from federal regulation under the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution a firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition manufactured and retained in this state; and to exclude certain firearms and ammunition from this act.This is an old argument, that if a product or good stays within the states borders, the federal government has no authority. The problem is, this argument has been tried before, in front of the Supreme Court, and lost. In the case of Gonzales vs Raich, none other than Justice Antonin Scalia, conservative firebrand, wrote the opinion which destroys the core argument of the Alabama bill:
Unlike the power to regulate activities that have a substantial effect on interstate commerce, the power to enact laws enabling effective regulation of interstate commerce can only be exercised in conjunction with congressional regulation of an interstate market, and it extends only to those measures necessary to make the interstate regulation effective. As Lopez itself states, and the Court affirms today, Congress may regulate noneconomic intrastate activities only where the failure to do so “could … undercut” its regulation of interstate commerce. … This is not a power that threatens to obliterate the line between “what is truly national and what is truly local.”Translated into English from legalese, Scalia is saying that just because a product or service never leaves the state, it still will impact interstate commerce. In this case, firearms made and staying within Alabama will change the dynamic of the firearms trade, changing the commerce between the states by virtue of their presence. As a result, the federal government has not only a reason to regulate, but a constitutionally demanded requirement to regulate them.
when your chief justice is the most right wing person there and he slaps you down don't you think you should take a different approach?
are they going for the insanity definition again, keep trying same thing and expecting a change, these guys wrote the book on that one.
The proposed measure is a pandering to the ill-educated, know-nothings of the Tea Party and the legislators likely know that it will never withstand a constitutional test. But by passing such a measure, they can trot themselves in front of the crowd, make wild claims about guns and dead hands, and pocket the money paid to them by the gun manufacturers lobby.
This is, of course, on the heels of bills in Texas and Wyoming to arrest federal agents enforcing firearms statutes. Alabama seems intent to raise the stakes in this neo-conservative mindset, that the right to arms is absolute and supersedes any other right in the Constitution, such as the right to life itself. One must ask how much blood money the senators in Alabama have gotten from the firearms manufacturers.
is this is some kind of Phoenix syndrome the south will rise out of the ashes,
Last Battle of the Civil War - Columbus, Georgia April 16, 1865
they say to forget history is to repeat it wonder what the citizen count pro and con is? how many want to lose gov't support and rely on those radicals that don't really mean it just posturing for the cause
