Montana Tells ATF "F- Off"

[Chris]

Montana is positioning themselves for a 10th amendment challenge of the Federal government's right to regulate firearms.

In case high-school civics class was a long time ago...

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.

Sovereignty Bills Have National Scope
Gun Law One Of Many Proposals By States To Curb Federal Power

HELENA (AP) — Gov. Brian Schweitzer has signed into law a bill that aims to exempt Montana made guns from federal regulation, adding firepower to a battery of legislative efforts to assert states’ rights across the nation. “It’s a gun bill, but it’s another way of demonstrating the sovereignty of the state of Montana,” Democrat Schweitzer said. Because the law applies only to those guns that are made and kept in Montana, its effect is limited. The state is home to just a handful of specialty gun makers, known for recreating rifles used to settle the West, and most of their customers are out-of-state. But supporters of the new law hope it triggers a court case testing the legal basis for federal rules governing gun sales. “What we need here is for Montana to be able to handle Montana’s business and affairs,” bill sponsor Rep. Joel Boniek, a Republican and wilderness guide from Livingston, told fellow lawmakers during the bill’s House debate.

THE MEASURE is one of many introduced by state lawmakers across the nation seeking to confront what some see as a federal overreach into state matters that will be extended with the national stimulus plan. Along with the gun bill, Montana regislators are considering a resolution that affirms the 10th Amendment principle that the federal government only has those powers that are specifically given to it by the U.S. Constitution. “The whole goal is to awaken the people so that we can return to a properly grounded republic,” Rep. Michael More, R-Gallatin Gateway and the Montana resolution’s sponsor, said at a House committee hearing Wednesday. As many as 15 other Legislatures have also been mulling resolutions that buck federal control in states such as New Hampshire, South Carolina, Missouri and Oklahoma. “The balance has swung far to the extreme to the empowerment of the federal government, and to the harm of the individual states,” More said.

OPPONENTS OF the state sovereignty bids, however, warn they could give legitimacy to the kind of anti- government ideas that fueled the militia movement in Montana and elsewhere. “When you really actually get in and look at it there is a lot of what we feel is very dangerous, very anti-government language that reads very similar to posters for the militia movement in the 1990s,” said Travis McAdam, the interim director of the Montana Human Rights Network, a group formed to oppose racism and extremism. One of the few state senators who voted against the gun bill — Sen. Christine Kaufmann, D-Helena — is that group’s director when the Legislature is not in session. She ties the bills’ proliferation to fears about the Democratic administration of President Barack Obama and stimulus spending. “I do think that there is a kind of renewed vehemence to this kind of right-wing rhetoric being spewed by conservative talk show hosts to rile the troops and they are using the fact that we have a Democratic, black president as one of their rallying calls,” Kaufmann said. The Montana bills are being sponsored by freshman legislators who ran as part of a broader effort to oust more moderate Republicans in last spring’s elections. House Resolution 3, the one sponsored by More, follows another states’ rights declaration that deadlocked in the same committee earlier this session, though the committee’s chairman said it may have a shot on its second try.

HOUSE BILL 246, the Montana-made gun bill, cleared the Legislature easily before reaching the governor’s desk. Its supporters next plan to find a “squeaky clean” Montanan who wants to send a note to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives threatening to build and sell about 20 rifles though federal dealership licensing. If the ATF says it’s illegal, the gun bill’s backers plan to file a lawsuit in federal court with the goal of launching a legal showdown that lands in the U.S. Supreme Court. The Montana Shooting Sports Association, which drafted the bill, has said it will raise the money to pay for any legal costs. “It doesn’t cost us any money and I like guns,” Schweitzer said after signing the bill. “I like big guns, I like little guns, I like pistols, I like rifles, and I would like to buy a gun that’s made in Montana,” Schweitzer said.

[Dude! Sweet!]

Go get 'em guys! Man, when it all comes to the bitter end, I sure hope Montana's got some good places to go boating because we're all going to end up living there!

[Trim'd Up]

My aunt lives on Flathead lake . IT is beautiful! I have been boating there a few times but the water is cold as hel from the glacial runoff. I think it is the biggest natural lake west of the Mississippi. I have never seen a go fast up there. I keep threatening to drag mine up but it wouldn't be a fun trip.

[Ratickle]

Go get 'em guys! Man, when it all comes to the bitter end, I sure hope Montana's got some good places to go boating because we're all going to end up living there!

Or the new Republic of Texas....

[Dude! Sweet!]

On the up side, once California reverts to Mexico, we'll be able to do whatever we want out here...

[cigdaze]

That's fantastic. I'm liking Montana.

[sledge]

Texas, Utah and a couple others are working on a similar law and subsequent Supreme Court challenge.

Kinda worried about FL now that Crist has announced he'll run for Senate. Not so much for losing Crist but the unknown of who will replace him.

[Wardey]

Florida is done.....Hello Montana !!! Dave

[phragle]

Im moving to Monatana and building nukes

[Tommy Gun]

My aunt lives on Flathead lake . IT is beautiful! I have been boating there a few times but the water is cold as hel from the glacial runoff. I think it is the biggest natural lake west of the Mississippi. I have never seen a go fast up there. I keep threatening to drag mine up but it wouldn't be a fun trip.

Something tells me that if you took your go-fast up there you might get shot.

[Slandrew]

[MattBMiller]

Too bad the winters are so brutal in Montana!

[2112]

There are Go-fasts on Flathead. They believe in live and let live. No one is going to get shot there. Winters are long unfortunately.
.

[Wardey]

Montana wants to keep it pure and clean....unlike Florida. Dave