Obama Citizenship

States? Rights Update: WND: Utah Next State to Test Second Amendment Gun Protection

By Phil

WorldNetDaily reports that Utah State Rep. Carl Wimmer is preparing to have legislation introduced into the State Legislature’s session in 2010 that — similarly to what Montana has already passed and is likely to be challenged in Court subsequent to the bill’s effective date of October 1, 2009 — would be another test of federalism in America:

Wimmer intends his legislation to exempt from federal gun regulations any Utah resident seeking to own a firearm made in Utah.

Wimmer explained to WND that he intends to introduce a bill, not a resolution.

“A resolution has no teeth to it because a resolution amounts to a state saying to federal government, ‘We are going to stand up and assert our rights, if you will let us please do so, federal government,’” said Wimmer. “A bill is an actual state law that will put into place the fact that if a firearm is manufactured in Utah, sold in Utah and kept within the boundaries of Utah, that firearm will be exempt from federal regulation under the Ninth and Tenth Amendments to the Constitution.”

Wimmer also told WND the legislation would avoid federal regulation under the Commerce Clause because firearms made in Utah and owned in Utah would not be subject to interstate commerce because the firearms never crossed state lines.

“This is a righteous battle,” Wimmer said, “and it is one I am read to step up and fight.

“Our freedoms on a daily basis are being destroyed by a massive, centralized, statist federal government, and we have to do something to reverse that,” he said.

Wimmer told WND he is organizing a new group called “The Patrick Henry Caucus” to bring together state legislators throughout the United States to fight back against the federal government in the defense of Second Amendment rights at the state level.

“I looked at my three kids and I thought that I don’t want to have to stand before them when they grow up and explain to them that their dad did not do more to fight to defend their liberty and freedom,” he said.

“So, I decided that if I was walking around with a knot in my stomach about what was going on with our liberty and freedom, then I know other state legislators are feeling this way around the country,” he said.

Wimmer plans to take his Patrick Henry Caucus nationwide, with the goal to form a chapter in each state that is available for membership exclusively to state legislators who agree to the strategy of using states rights laws to move forward at the same time across the United States.

“If one state acts on states rights, the federal government ignores it,” he said. “But if 25 or 30 states pass states rights legislation together, the federal government has to stand up and take notice.”

Wimmer told WND he has reserved a URL domain under “ThePatrickHenryCaucus.com” and has hired a website developer.

His goal is to have the legislation ready for introduction when the Utah legislature next convenes in January 2010.

Wimmer, a resident of Herriman, Utah, works as a small business officer and a police officer.

The Utah Shooting Sports Council lists eight manufacturers of firearms domiciled in Utah, including Browning Firearms, which is the largest.

The Ninth Amendment to the Constitution specifies that, “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution specifies that, “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.”

The Commerce Clause is a federal government enumerated power in Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution, delegating to Congress the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, among the states, and with Indian tribes.

A current listing of State-based initiatives can be found here.

-Phil

Full post as published by The Right Side of Life on May 12, 2009 (boomark / email).