In April 2009, the Montana legislature passed a bill that exempted from federal law all firearms both manufactured and sold within the state, which is not interstate commerce within the meaning of the U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 8.
Now, Bob Unruh at WorldNet Daily reports that State Sen. Greg W. Hinkle (R-Thompson Falls) has introduced SB 114, which would require federal employees to obtain the county sheriff's permission to make arrests, searches, and seizures. With some exceptions, federal officials violating this act would be subject to prosecution. The act specifically states that federal employees do not have the authority of a county sheriff within Montana. The act applies to all federal law enforcement activities within the State of Montana, except on federal lands. It is not limited to firearms enforcement. If a county sheriff is under investigation, the federal official must obtain permission from the state attorney general.
Mr. Unruh notes that this is an example of a "sheriffs first" bill, which is being talked about in several states.
This bill is downright gutsy. It will be interesting to see how the legislative process plays out on this bill. Stay tuned.
(Because of the time required to maintain a status report of legislation in other states, I will not be keeping a spreadsheet of state sovereignty and nullification resolutions this year. Readers desiring this information should check the Tenth Amendment Center site).
1 comment:
The first problem here is clear in your opening paragraph, interstate commerce is NOT just the commerce between states, but, as interpreted by the court (who is the definition of the Constitution (Marburry)), it includes anything that removes from interstate commerce. In this case, state-made guns count (furthermore, if the company at all has any other interstate commerce, then all of their commerce counts)
The question to the second, is what if the federal officer has a warrant from either state or federal courts? This seems to be an issue there (otherwise I agree with it)
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