Alaska’s HB69, the 2nd Amendment Preservation Act, had it’s third reading in the senate last night, April 10th, and passed with a 17-3 vote. It returned to the house this morning, where they voted 34-5 to concur with the Senate version. The bill will be transmitted to Governor Parnell’s desk.

If Parnell signs it into law, it would nullify a large swath of unconstitutional federal power over the right to keep and bear arms. It begins with the premise that violations of the 2nd Amendment are not law at all. It reads, in part:

a statute, regulation, rule, or order that has the purpose, intent, or effect of confiscating any firearm, banning any firearm, limiting the size of a magazine for any firearm, imposing any limit on the ammunition that may be purchased for any firearm, or requiring the registration of any firearm or its ammunition infringes on an Alaskan’s right to bear arms in violation of the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and, therefore, is not made in accordance with the Constitution of the United States, is not authorized by the Constitution of the United States, is not the supreme law of the land, and, consequently, is invalid in this state and shall be considered null and void and of no effect in this state

It continues, requiring the state to stand down on enforcement of federal laws violating the right to keep and bear arms:

A state or municipal agency may not use or authorize the use of an asset to implement or aid in the implementation of a requirement of
(1) an order of the President of the United States, a federal regulation, or a law enacted by the United States Congress that is applied to
(A) infringe on a person’s right, under the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, to keep and bear arms;

This is a VERY effective method to stop the federal government from infringing the right to keep and bear arms within Alaska. It’s a known fact that a vast majority of federal enforcement actions rely on state and local assets in order to have the manpower and resources to carry them out.  As Judge Andrew Napolitano has said recently, such widespread noncompliance would make federal gun laws “nearly impossible to enforce” (video here)

The bill also instructs the State Attorney General to defend any citizen who may be charged by the federal government, or its representatives, under such “laws” as may be passed by Washington DC.

Senator Coghill, who worked on the amendment instructing the AG to defend citizens, had this to say in the closing arguments: “we believe in a strong central government, but we don’t believe in an omnipotent central government… Remember, it was the states that made the federal government. The states are now being forgotten by the very central government they put together, by them ignoring the very Constitution that tied us together as states. The tension has arisen and we have to answer that tension. This (bill) does that.”

HB69 is also an expansion on the state’s previously passed Firearms Freedom Act.  That bill made state law that federal power under the constitution’s commerce clause did not apply to firearms, parts and accessories manufactured and held within the state, as this was not interstate commerce.  The new legislation takes the natural progression and included firearms and accessories that are not just manufactured in the state – but any possessed in the state as well.  Read quite clearly, that’s all firearms, parts and accessories in the state except those few which are intended for sale across state lines.

As what some might consider a bonus added to the legislation in the Senate Amendment, the bill also prohibits compliance with NDAA “indefinite detention” AND the Real ID Act of 2005.

The prohibition on use of state assets (above) also includes the following:

1. Any federal act that would “deny a person a right to due process, or a protection of due process, that would otherwise be available to the person under the Constitution of the State of Alaska, or the Constitution of the United States

2. P.L. 109-13, Division B (REAL ID Act of 2005).

Governor Parnell has 15 days, excluding Sundays, to sign the bill into law.  It has a veto-proof majority in both houses.

ACTION ITEMS

1. If you live in Alaska, CALL the Governor. Let him know that you want him to sign this bill. Information for Governor Parnell is here.

(907) 465-3500
A call will be far more effective than an email.

2.  Outside of Alaska? Has 2nd Amendment legislation been introduced in your state OR local community?  Work today to get this legislation moving forward.

http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2ndamendmentpreservation

TRACKING

Keep up to date with the status of bills to nullify unconstitutional federal gun control here:

http://tracking.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2ndamendment

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