Additional
Titles
NEW GUN BILL IN
CONGRESS:
MORE
UNCONSTITUTIONAL CLAPTRAP
By Devvy Kidd
January 29, 2003
NewsWithViews.com
We all knew it was just a matter of time.
Mandatory federal gun licensing. Gun owners: Now is the time to
show your clout. Never mind if you belong to the NRA, GOAA or none of
the above: Now is the time to tell Congress No. Now is
the time to tell your local Sheriff that you will not submit to
yet another unconstitutional federal junk law.
For conservatives out there: Let me remind you
- this is a Republican controlled Congress. In a perfect world, this
type of legislation would never get out of committee with a GOP
controlled Congress. However, we know that Congress is full of
anti-Second Amendment Republicans. This particularly odious piece of
legislation was introduced by Congressman Rush Holt, [D- N J], bud of
Comrade Nancy Pelosi.
Holt has never met a welfare cause or
politically correct issue he didn't like and wants you to fund.
This man is quite obviously constitutionally challenged and despises
the very freedoms we have been given by God. It's time for every gun
owner in this country to tell these people and your local
sheriff that We the People will not roll over and let our
God-given rights be stripped from US.
The Bill - H.R. 124
You can search for bills in the House at: http://thomas.loc.gov/
H.R. 124 hasn't come back from GPO yet, but
has gone to the Committee on the Judiciary. Due to space restraint,
here are a few highlights:
H.R. 124
To provide for the mandatory licensing and
registration of handguns.
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Handgun
Licensing and Registration Act of 2003'.
Sec 2. Federal Handgun Licensing and
Registration System to Apply in Any State That Does Not Have a Handgun
Licensing and Registration System That Meets Certain Requirements
(a) IN GENERAL- Chapter 44 of title 18, United
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
Sec. 931. Licensing and registration of
handguns
(a)(1) The Attorney General shall establish a
Federal system for the licensing and registration of all handguns
owned, possessed, or controlled in the United States, which shall
include a method for easily retrieving information sufficient to
identify--
Constitutionality
Since when does Congress, under Art. 1, Sec.
8, have the authority to dictate anything you read above? Never. They
have only gotten away with it the past because The People have let
them get away with it. No more. The original Bill of Rights as
provided in the first Ten Amendment to the Constitution of these
united States of America, effective December 15, 1791, contain this
language:
"A well regulated Militia, being
necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to
keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
These few words have turned into 10,00 court
decisions and made anti-gun attorneys fat cats. A million words have
been put into court decisions by judges trying to figure out one of
the most simple rights We the People were given by our Creator, not
any government.
These critters in Congress seem to forget the
order of things: The lawmakers of the colonies, realizing that some
areas that affected everyone needed to be uniform: war, trade,
commerce, copyright, patents, taxation, began the process of setting
up a central government with limited areas of legislation well
defined.
The prominent leaders and lawmakers of the
time got together, hashed out the fine points and created the U.S.
Constitution, which included those rights God-given to man that would not
be violated, infringed, made into privileges or anything else.
The Courts
While the circuit courts have been all over
the place on this issue, there were two very important U.S. Supreme
Court decisions within the last decade that have direct bearing on
this junk bill:
U.S. v. Lopez, 115 S.Ct. 1624 (1995)
(http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/93-1260.ZO.html)
Chief Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion
of the Court.
In the Gun Free School Zones Act of 1990,
Congress made it a federal offense "for any individual knowingly
to possess a firearm at a place that the individual knows, or has
reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone." 18 U.S.C. §
922(q)(1)(A) (1988 ed., Supp. V).
The Act neither regulates a commercial
activity nor contains a requirement that the possession be connected
in any way to interstate commerce. We hold that the Act exceeds the
authority of Congress "[to] regulate Commerce . . . among the
several States . . . ." U. S. Const., Art. I, §8, cl. 3.
Printz v. United States (95-1478), 521 U.S. 98
(1997)
(http://supct.law.cornell.edu/test/hermes/95-1478.ZS.html)
Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act
provisions require the Attorney General to establish a national system
for instantly checking prospective handgun purchasers' backgrounds,
note following 18 U.S.C. § 922 and command the "chief law
enforcement officer" (CLEO) of each local jurisdiction to conduct
such checks and perform related tasks on an interim basis until the
national system becomes operative, §922(s).
Petitioners, the CLEOs for counties in Montana
and Arizona, filed separate actions challenging the interim
provisions' constitutionality. In each case, the District Court held
that the background check provision was unconstitutional, but
concluded that it was severable from the remainder of the Act,
effectively leaving a voluntary background check system in
place. The Ninth Circuit reversed, finding none of the interim
provisions unconstitutional.
Held:
1. The Brady Act's interim provision
commanding CLEOs to conduct background checks, §922(s)(2), is
unconstitutional. Extinguished with it is the duty implicit in the
background check requirement that the CLEO accept completed handgun
applicant statements (Brady Forms) from firearms dealers, §§922(s)(1)(A)(i)(III)
and (IV). Pp. 4-34.
This current bug-a-boo
H.R. 124 most definitely falls within both the
above decisions. Congress, once again, is attempting to legislate in
an area for which they have no constitutional authority. Most
likely, these cretins in Congress know this to be true. However, it
does keep real Americans fighting such anti-American legislation,
using valuable time and financial resources that could be directed
elsewhere. Not to mention, it continues to enrich despicable lawyers
who continue to get rich off the gun issue.
Without our guns, we're toast. Without our
guns, we will be another North Korea before you can blink. Freedom is
for the bravehearts. I hope everyone will join me in sending Congress
critter Holt a polite but pointed e-mail, along with your house member
and your local Sheriff. The old way of doing things is over. Tell
these people NO. Let them know what We the People will not
compromise or bend another inch. Call their bluff. There's 70 million
of us. Let them chew on that fact.
Congressman Rush Holt:
http://holt.house.gov/feedback.cfm?campaign=holt&type=Contact%20Rush
Find your House member: http://www.house.gov
Your local Sheriff: Check the white pages at
the front of your phone book or use a search engine
© 2003 Devvy Kidd - All Rights
Reserved
Devvy
Kidd is the founder and Director of POWER (Project on Winning
Economic Reform).
Has been a guest on more than 1500 radio shows, given hundreds of
speeches and has run for Congress
twice. Sales of her little booklets, "Why A Bankrupt
America" and "Blind Loyalty" sold close to
2,000,000 copies. Devvy's web
site is: www.devvy.com
wallace@devvy.com