NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Apr. 1, 2015) – Yesterday, a Tennessee House committee passed a bill to prohibit the state from carrying Uncle Sam’s water by implementing or enforcing federal gun “laws,” rules, regulations and orders that are contrary to the Tennessee state constitution.

Introduced by Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, House Bill 1341 (HB1341) would ban Tennessee state or local public funds, personnel or property from being used for the “implementation, regulation, or enforcement of any federal law, executive order, rule or regulation regulating the ownership, use, or possession of firearms, ammunition, or firearm accessories” if such use “would result in the violation of Tennessee statutory or common law or the Constitution of Tennessee.”

“While many gun rights activists focus their resources on federal court cases to stop states from enacting gun control measures, this bill takes on another major problem,” said Scott Landreth of ShallNot.org. “The federal government cannot be trusted with our right to keep and bear arms, and HB1341 draws a line in the sand to help protect that natural right.”

Last week, the House Civil Justice Subcommittee passed it by a vote of 4-2. And yesterday, the full Civil Justice Committee approved it on a voice vote, with only one member dissenting.

“I’m from the cut that there is no need for Washington D.C. to be the end all and be all with regards to the regulatory world,” said Weaver. “We should respect our 10th Amendment and shift the power back to the states and that’s what House Bill 1341 does.”

“With state and local law enforcement often carrying up to 80% of more of the enforcement load of federal gun control measures, this would put a serious roadblock in the way of any new gun control scheme from Congress, the President or the ATF,” said Landreth. “With strong protections for the ownership of firearms in the Tennessee constitution, this is going to call into question help being provided to a large number of federal gun control measures currently in effect too.”

Article I, Section 26 of the Tennessee Constitution reads:

That the citizens of this State have a right to keep and to bear arms for their common defense; but the Legislature shall have power, by law, to regulate the wearing of arms with a view to prevent crime.

As noted by the Tennessee Firearms Association, this provision “does not mention the “militia” when it speaks of the right to keep, bear, and wear arms. It speaks of the individual rights of the citizens of this state to keep, bear and wear arms.”

In his important study on the right to keep and bear arms in state constitutions, Constitutional Scholar Dave Kopel noted that Tennessee courts have been restrictive on the right to bear arms, but not on keeping them. He wrote, in part:

Tennessee’s Constitution mentions “common defence” and does not specifically state any other purposes for the arms right. The Tennessee Supreme Court in the 1840 Aymette case interpreted the Tennessee guarantee, and suggested that the Second Amendment was intended “[i]n the same view.”

The Court held that bearing arms was only for militia purposes, and that keeping arms was only for collective resistance to tyranny, not for “private” defense. But even in Aymette, the right to own firearms was not restricted solely to people who might be militiamen; rather the right belonged to all citizens: “The citizens have the unqualified right to keep the weapon.

But the right to bear arms is not of that unqualified character.” Thus, even with the most restrictive reading possible of the scope of “bear arms” and the purpose of the right to arms, all (law-abiding) citizens retain a right to keep arms. In 1866, a gun confiscation law was declared unconstitutional under the Tennessee guarantee.

In practice, this would have a significant impact on any proposals to implement an ammunition or other ban with or without the consent of Congress. The way this could play out, said Kopel in a recent report, is that if the federal government were to ban or further restrict any firearms, and then a local cop pulled someone over for a traffic violation and saw that firearm in the car, the cop could simply give the guy a ticket for the traffic violation and send him on his way.

And, as even the Huffington Post has recently acknowledged, “resources of the federal government are stretched thin,” and such bills would “have effects beyond a simple symbolic statement. ”

Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano affirmed the strategy. In a recent televised discussion on the issue, he noted that a single state taking this step would make federal gun laws “nearly impossible” to enforce.

LEGAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL

Refusing to participate with federal enforcement is not just an effective method, it has also been sanctioned by the Supreme Court in a number of major cases, dating from 1842. The 1997 case, Printz v. US serves as the cornerstone. In it, Justice Scalia held:

The Federal Government may neither issue directives requiring the States to address particular problems, nor command the States’ officers, or those of their political subdivisions, to administer or enforce a federal regulatory program. 

As noted Georgetown Law Constitutional Scholar Randy Barnett has said, “This line of cases is now considered well settled.”

Weaver affirmed this principle in last week’s hearing on the bill.

“There’s nothing in the Constitution requiring us to help the feds violate our rights,” said Weaver. “And under the well-established anti-commandeering doctrine, the supreme court has consistently held that the federal government cannot force states to provide personnel or resources to implement or enforce federal acts or programs.”

NEXT UP

“The right to keep and bear arms is a fundamental, individual right that shall not be infringed,” said Weaver. “It is my hope and intent that Tennessee will lead the charge to preserve and protect the 2nd and 10th Amendment.”

HB1341 now moves to the House Calendar and Rules Committee, which schedules bills for consideration on third and final reading and “entertains debate on the merits of legislation recommended for passage by the eleven standing committees.”

TAKE ACTION IN SUPPORT

In Tennessee: Follow the steps to support this bill at THIS LINK

ALL OTHER STATES:

Urge your state rep and senator to introduce a similar bill. Start here

Michael Boldin

The 10th Amendment

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

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