ATF says no on Tennessee AND Montana Firearms Freedom Act...going to SCOTUS

**archangel689** · July 19th, 2009, 12:22 AM

And the battle begins. I don't believe this was unexpected. According to the 10th ammendment, the state has authority. Tennessee/Montana is applying it's constitutional rights. The feds are saying, no, the constitution doesn't count. Calling all lawyers!

I still can't get over the fact that an unelected federal employee told a state legislature and governor to piss up a flag pole.

Here is the thread on the Tennessee Gun Owners Association....
http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/2n...eedom-act.html

Montana letter:
http://www.atf.gov/firearms/071709-m...openletter.pdf

**spooter66** · July 19th, 2009, 12:44 AM

I wonder if the other states that passed similar laws got theirs yet?

I'm sure they were expecting and even hoping for the reply, let the fight begin. This may take years to wind its through the courts and get to SCOTUS.

**FormerUser123** · July 19th, 2009, 12:47 AM

Isn't there a similar bill rumored to be coming up for vote in PA? I hope the SCOTUS does the right thing here and upholds the states rights. I'd love to see a bill like this be passed in PA.

We need a smaller federal government. They've been doing a whole lot of nothing, other than accepting our money, for a very long time.

**ImminentDanger** · July 19th, 2009, 05:30 AM

You might want to review information in this thread regarding 'Made in Montana' firearms.....

montana-gun-law

...

**edstephan** · July 19th, 2009, 10:02 AM

Originally Posted by BTA88

Isn't there a similar bill rumored to be coming up for vote in PA? I hope the SCOTUS does the right thing here and upholds the states rights. I'd love to see a bill like this be passed in PA.

We need a smaller federal government. They've been doing a whole lot of nothing, other than accepting our money, for a very long time.

Sam Rohrer on the 10th Amendment

It has been referred to committee

An OC Activist and 1 of the 3%
Ed Stephan

**BSH** · July 19th, 2009, 10:34 PM

Okay, they have a point. What the states need to do is set up regulations to govern STATE gun dealers, that are licensed to sell state guns and NOT any FFL processes.

The other issue is that the issue is not the 10th amendment, but Article I, section 8, where Congress has the power to regulate commerce among the states. THAT is the authority under which the Feds regulate local activity, based on a long line of Supreme Court precedents, most notably Wickard v Filburn (which was a grotesque travesty against the constitution). Essentially, to get these states rights measures past the Court, the proponents would have to get the Court to agree to overturn precedents that permit a vast swath of Federal authority.

There are differences in the "states rights" gun measures, and some are stronger than others. The court could easily take up one of the weaker measures and vote 7-2 to uphold Federal supremacy (I think we can all guess who those two would be). The ATF could pick the state measure they think is weakest, and fight that one while they ignore the others. Once they get their ruling, I doubt any appellate court would take it up again, even though Montana's law (for example) may be much stronger than others.

Then what?

**camper** · July 20th, 2009, 10:15 AM

Originally Posted by archangel689

I still can't get over the fact that an unelected federal employee told a state legislature and governor to piss up a flag pole.

This isn't a 'rouge agent' (no pun intended), he's high enough up on the chain that he has the necessary backing and support from those who lord over us to send that letter out. It's been looked at by lawyers too, I'm sure.

We all knew it was coming, lets see where it leads and hope it takes us to wonderful places.

camper