tenth amendment

Many Americans rightly cried "foul" when the city of Chicago imposed an outright ban on all handguns.  After all, this ban is not only a violation of individual freedom, but also the individual God-given right of self defense.  Many Second Amendment advocates cheered loudly when it looked like the Supreme Court might overturn the ban.  However, this is not something that they really should have been cheering for.

Now, those of you who know me might be saying "wait a minute, Brian!  How can you own firearms, love to shoot, and believe in a God-given right of self defense and be against a Supreme Court decision overturning a city-imposed handgun ban?"  Let me explain my position here a bit.

During the Great Depression, the FDR administration imposed limits on crop production to artificially increase the price of food.  Yeah, that makes PERFECT sense when people are starving and is another reason why I believe the policies of the FDR administration led to the Great Depression being much worse than it could've been.

A man by the name of Roscoe Filburn was told to plant a little over 10 acres of wheat.  He planted that 10 acres and sold it on the market.  However, he also planted an additional ten for consumption by his own family to save money due to lack of revenue because of the limits on how much he could plant.  His reasoning was that since the wheat was never entering the market, it was not subject to federal regulation under the Interstate Commerce Clause of the Constitution.

Around the country, many states have introduced nullification legislation. These measures have usually been titled “Firearms Freedom Act” because they usually deal with the issue of federal firearm registration. Typically, these measures include provisions that guns, accessories, and ammunition manufactured within a state, sold within that state, and never leaves that state is not subject to the Interstate Commerce Clause.

Rep. David Derby of Owasso has introduced another bill in the House which asserts Oklahoma's Constitutional right to regulate its own intrastate commerce regarding firearms without interference from the federal government.  Now, this bill doesn't seem to have any real teeth in terms of penalties for enforcement, but it's at least a start and a statement to the federal government to butt out of state issues.

House Bill 3239 is referred to as the Oklahoma Firearms Freedom Act.  It asserts that because of the protections of the Second, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments, firearms manufactured in the State of Oklahoma which do not enter into commerce in another state are not subject to federal regulation.  The measure also requires that these arms bear a mark on the receiver or frame with the words "Made in Oklahoma" displayed.

The Oklahoma House Public Safety Committee has passed to the floor House Bill 3157, which is an amendment to 21 O.S. 2001, Section 1289.2.  It adds the following paragraph:

The Legislature further finds that the citizens of Oklahoma shall not be required to participate in any international, state or federal firearms registration program nor shall any firearm lawfully owned and possessed by a citizen of this state be subject to confiscation unless such firearm has been used for unlawful purposes in violation of the Oklahoma Statutes.

This bill, if passed, will be effective November 1, 2010.  It is obviously in response to the Federal proposal that the United States signs on to a treaty with the UN regarding international firearms registration.

Call your Representatives and Senators and let's get this passed!