Don’t go down shooting. Nullify!

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I hear it all the time, especially from my conservative friends.

The bluster.

The defiance.

The tough-guy edicts.

“They’ll never take my guns!” they declare. “Not unless they pry them out of my cold dead hands.”

But I think Jim Karger got it right in a July 31 column published over at Lew Rockwell.

“And, when I hear this crazy talk, I agree with them openly. ‘You are right. They will pry your gun from your cold dead hands,’ which I often follow with the question, ‘And where will that leave you except face down in a pool of your own blood in the middle of the street, just another dead fool resisting the State?’”

Let’s be brutally honest. If a SWAT team comes rolling down your street demanding your guns, you will either meekly give them up, or you will end up a bloody corpse. Even the well-armed civilian will not win a gun battle with police armed with military style weapons, top-grade body armor and riding in virtual tanks.

And every day, the police in America become more and more militarized, as Karger points out.

“The militarization of US police forces is ongoing and escalating. Many cities and towns now own tanks, armed personnel carriers, even attack helicopters, and almost all are outfitted with military weapons not available to the general public.”

Not to mention the fact that we also have evidence that the military continues to train and procure weapons “necessary for use by the active and reserve components of the Armed Forces for homeland defense missions, domestic emergency responses, and providing military support to civil authorities” under section 1815 of the FY 2008 NDAA.” (Emphasis added.)

So you are going to take them on with your AR-15. Good luck with that. It’s like the old joke about the guy bringing a knife to a gun-fight. Knife guy loses.

Bottom line – we won’t stop the DC’vers with brute force.

But we can stop federal overreach in its tracks through nullification and interposition at the state and local level. By harnessing the power of the political system in our states, we can begin to rein in federal overreach.

For instance, consider Virginia’s response to detention provisions in the NDAA. By law, officials in the Old Dominion State will not cooperate with federal officials seeking to detain Virginia citizens without due process. Now imagine the impact if other states followed suit. It would become very difficult for the feds to carry out any actual detention.

Doubt me? Look at how effective state resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was. As northern states adopted personal liberty laws, the number of blacks dragged back south fell to nearly zero.

And look at the success of medical marijuana programs in 17 states. Oh sure, the feds push back from time to time, but by and large, these states successfully thumb their noses at the federal prohibition of medicinal cannabis.

We can also take steps at the local level, electing and educating sheriffs who take their oath the “preserve and protect the Constitution from enemies foreign and domestic” seriously. If we have local law enforcement on our side, it strengthens our position.

It’s amusing to me that many of the same people who claim they will shoot it out with anybody coming to take their guns will protest that nullification will “never work.”

The truth is we have the ability to build a platform of strength and unity through the political mechanisms at the state and local level. Real power – not just some bluster about shooting up the feds with our rifles.  Jefferson called nullification “the rightful remedy” and I believe he’s absolutely correct.  Ultimately, power flows from the people.

But the people must engage.  It will take a lot of work. State and local politicians are no more reliable than their cohorts in D.C. We just have a better chance of exerting influence over them. We have more access and more sway over state and local lawmakers, but we seldom chose to exercise it.

Forgotten Men radio host Mark Kreslins sums it up perfectly.

“It’s easy to ‘talk’ when there is no real threat right now. But when the so-called federal government attempts to disarm the public, most everyone will comply. Why? Because we’re not courageous enough during this peaceful interlude to discuss real solutions while we can still do so.”

So let’s show a little courage and get to work!