[Vision2020] Idaho Bill Challenges Federal Law

[Wayne Price]

Does anyone know of a firearm made in Idaho?
I know there is a caoonon works up by C d'L, but don't know of any  
rifle/pistol makers





On Mar 7, 2010, at 6:54 AM, Tom Hansen wrote:

> The Idagoons are at it again, V-peeps.
>
> Courtesy of today's (March 7, 2010) Spokesman-Review.
>
> ---------------------------------------------------
>
> Bill challenges federal law
> Idaho lawmakers hope to force courts to restrict commerce clause
> Betsy Z. Russell, The Spokesman-Review
>
> BOISE – Idaho lawmakers are gearing up to declare guns and  
> ammunition made
> in the state exempt from all federal laws, including registration.
>
> “This is automatically going to end up in a court case, that was the
> object of this bill,” said the measure’s lead sponsor, Rep. Dick  
> Harwood,
> R-St. Maries. “It’s not to control guns, it’s not to do anything,  
> it’s to
> change. … To tell the state of Idaho we can run our own commerce,  
> that’s
> what this bill is about.”
>
> The measure is designed to match a “firearms freedom” bill already  
> passed
> in Montana – and already the subject of a federal court case – along  
> with
> pending measures in nearly two dozen other states. The idea: To  
> force a
> more narrow reading of the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution  
> by the
> Supreme Court, by suggesting that the use of guns not sold across  
> state
> lines isn’t interstate commerce and therefore can’t be regulated at  
> the
> federal level.
>
> Harwood’s bill raised legal questions when he unveiled it. At a  
> committee
> hearing last week, another lawmaker distributed an Idaho attorney
> general’s opinion showing the bill was “likely unconstitutional.”
>
> “An attempt to nullify federal statutes is beyond the power of the  
> Idaho
> Legislature,” the opinion found.
>
> But Harwood said that’s not the point. “Y’know, the supreme law of the
> land sometimes is maybe not always right,” he said. “There was a
> prohibition law and that was not right. … They ended up turning  
> around and
> saying, well, what we did there was wrong.” He also cited slavery,  
> saying,
> “We all know that’s wrong. That didn’t get overturned until the people
> went back and said this is wrong. You have to push the envelope. …  
> That’s
> what this bill is doing.”
>
> Harwood brought Deputy Attorney General Brian Kane to the House State
> Affairs Committee to explain the law at a second hearing. Kane said  
> the
> bill likely is unconstitutional under current case law, and the  
> attorney
> general’s office is bound by that. But, he said, if the Legislature  
> wants
> to set up a court fight over how the commerce clause should be
> interpreted, that’s up to lawmakers.
>
> “That’s not a legal question to answer; that is a policy question  
> for this
> Legislature,” Kane said. The bill, he said, does raise issues that  
> “most
> likely will need to be resolved by a court of competent jurisdiction.”
>
> Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, said, “We want to take this to court, we  
> want to
> create a controversy, and that’s where we’re headed with this. And  
> Idaho
> will be part of a grander scheme.” The bill then was approved on a  
> voice
> vote, with just two “no” votes, and sent to the full House, which  
> likely
> will debate it this week.
>
> Hart said several private legal groups want to take on the court  
> fight, so
> it wouldn’t cost the state anything. But Kane said the attorney  
> general’s
> office has a constitutional obligation to defend state laws, so if  
> the law
> passes, it’ll defend it.
>
> -----------
>
> House Bill 589
> (PDF format, 52 kilobytes)
>
> http://www.MoscowCares.com/Idaho/2010/HB589_IdahoFirearms.pdf
>
> ---------------------------------------------------
>
> So . . .
>
> If a firearm is manufactured and sold in the state of Idaho, and  
> taken to
> some out-of-state locale where it is used in a series of robberies and
> murders, there is no way of tracking ownership of this weapon.
>
> All this while the Aryan Nations racist pigs are making their  
> reappearance
> in the inland northwest.
>
> Heck!  I don't know about you, but I feel a whole lot safer.
>
> Seeya round town, Moscow.
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>
> "The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to  
> change
> and the Realist adjusts his sails."
>
> - Unknown
>
>
> =======================================================
> List services made available by First Step Internet,
> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>               http://www.fsr.net
>          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> =======================================================