ATF Tries to Revoke "Montana Made" State Sovereignty Laws
Roni
August 29, 2009 18:44:20
August 26, 2009
ATF Tries to Revoke "Montana Made" State Sovereignty Laws
We all predicted this would happen.
In a move typical for that fear-mongering organization with an ever-swelling acronym, the BATFE recently wrote gun dealers in the states of Montana and Tennessee to let them know the BATFE will be disregarding the state sovereignty gun laws of each state.
The "Montana Made" law, just like Tennessee's Firearms Freedom Act, is very simple.
Much of federal authority to regulate firearm sales and transfers stems from a liberal interpretation of every American tyrant's favorite subterfuge, the "interstate commerce" clause. In essence, this is what gives the BATFE its nasty teeth.
With this in mind, Montana correctly understood that any weapon made in Montana by Montana residents and sold in Montana to Montana residents is Montana's business and Montana's business only.
Montana thus sought to take charge of its firearms industry with the application of a simple truism:
Any gun made in Montana by Montana residents and sold in Montana to Montana residents is intrastate commerce, not "interstate commerce," and thus does not full under the purview of the federal government.
Potentially, the state would be able to say goodbye to NICS checks; Brady background checks; NFA taxes, bans and NFA databases -- and most importantly, federal "assault weapons" bans, which Montana and Tennessee rightly anticipated.
In effect, the "Montana Made" law would have permitted Montana gun companies to manufacture any kind of weapon banned by federal law -- including so-called "assault weapons" -- and sell them to fellow Montana residents.
Moreover, in this scenario, no one -- neither the manufacturer nor the dealer nor the buyer -- would have to kowtow to the BATFE by paying them a $200 tax and surrendering one's privacy to their notoriously inaccurate and oft-abused National Firearms Registry.
It was a new day for freedom -- and other states besides Tennessee were thinking of following suit: Alaska, Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas.
Well, the BATFE -- never one to have its power downplayed (or acronym belittled)-- has written letters to both Montana and Tennessee gun dealers letting them know that they proceed at their own risk.
We can only guess what new horrors those words portend -- probably more dead housewives and children as disgruntled ATF thugs shoot-to-kill anyone suspected of perhaps owning a firearm not properly taxed and regulated by Washington, D.C., power brokers.
What else would be new.
A few of our members expressed interest in contacting the BATFE to vent some righteous anger -- the same thing we did when the Department of Defense said they were going to ban all once-fired military brass for resale.
Remember how the DoD reneged on that commitment after just a few days due to the widespread backlash from gun owners and law enforcement?
Well, this is a bit different. Writing the ATF and providing them with your information is akin to giving thieves your home address and the hours you won't be home.
We're going to take a different, less dangerous approach. We've been talking to state officials from both Montana and Tennessee today to try to figure out the best way we can help these state laws succeed.
Please stay tuned to updates on this supremely important issue in our next email.
For now, click here to read Luke's commentary on his blog and leave a comment as this development unfolds.
But before I leave you, would you consider a donation to the National Association for Gun Rights as we continue to fight for the right to keep and bear arms? If you're feeling particularly generous today, please click here to contribute.
In Liberty,
Dudley Brown
Executive Director
National Association for Gun Rights
ATF Tries to Revoke "Montana Made" State Sovereignty Laws
We all predicted this would happen.
In a move typical for that fear-mongering organization with an ever-swelling acronym, the BATFE recently wrote gun dealers in the states of Montana and Tennessee to let them know the BATFE will be disregarding the state sovereignty gun laws of each state.
The "Montana Made" law, just like Tennessee's Firearms Freedom Act, is very simple.
Much of federal authority to regulate firearm sales and transfers stems from a liberal interpretation of every American tyrant's favorite subterfuge, the "interstate commerce" clause. In essence, this is what gives the BATFE its nasty teeth.
With this in mind, Montana correctly understood that any weapon made in Montana by Montana residents and sold in Montana to Montana residents is Montana's business and Montana's business only.
Montana thus sought to take charge of its firearms industry with the application of a simple truism:
Any gun made in Montana by Montana residents and sold in Montana to Montana residents is intrastate commerce, not "interstate commerce," and thus does not full under the purview of the federal government.
Potentially, the state would be able to say goodbye to NICS checks; Brady background checks; NFA taxes, bans and NFA databases -- and most importantly, federal "assault weapons" bans, which Montana and Tennessee rightly anticipated.
In effect, the "Montana Made" law would have permitted Montana gun companies to manufacture any kind of weapon banned by federal law -- including so-called "assault weapons" -- and sell them to fellow Montana residents.
Moreover, in this scenario, no one -- neither the manufacturer nor the dealer nor the buyer -- would have to kowtow to the BATFE by paying them a $200 tax and surrendering one's privacy to their notoriously inaccurate and oft-abused National Firearms Registry.
It was a new day for freedom -- and other states besides Tennessee were thinking of following suit: Alaska, Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas.
Well, the BATFE -- never one to have its power downplayed (or acronym belittled)-- has written letters to both Montana and Tennessee gun dealers letting them know that they proceed at their own risk.
We can only guess what new horrors those words portend -- probably more dead housewives and children as disgruntled ATF thugs shoot-to-kill anyone suspected of perhaps owning a firearm not properly taxed and regulated by Washington, D.C., power brokers.
What else would be new.
A few of our members expressed interest in contacting the BATFE to vent some righteous anger -- the same thing we did when the Department of Defense said they were going to ban all once-fired military brass for resale.
Remember how the DoD reneged on that commitment after just a few days due to the widespread backlash from gun owners and law enforcement?
Well, this is a bit different. Writing the ATF and providing them with your information is akin to giving thieves your home address and the hours you won't be home.
We're going to take a different, less dangerous approach. We've been talking to state officials from both Montana and Tennessee today to try to figure out the best way we can help these state laws succeed.
Please stay tuned to updates on this supremely important issue in our next email.
For now, click here to read Luke's commentary on his blog and leave a comment as this development unfolds.
But before I leave you, would you consider a donation to the National Association for Gun Rights as we continue to fight for the right to keep and bear arms? If you're feeling particularly generous today, please click here to contribute.
In Liberty,
Dudley Brown
Executive Director
National Association for Gun Rights
Top Opinion
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+12I live in Montana and i can say with conviction that most Montanans are ready to gun the ATF down like Custer at Little Bighorn if they so much as think about forcing us to abandon sovereignty laws. We love our guns, we use our guns, and we are going to keep our guns, and the Government be damned if they think they are going to force us to do otherwise.
Was posting in his article about this sh*t-----
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/...
AND POOF HE was gone!!
Belt-fed deer rifle---WHAT ARE you trying to do SKIN,CLEAN and Package all at once!!1 ROFLMAO-----SOUNDS like something the COYOTE would use from ACME!!
We must all take a stand together and tell them we will not budge and we will not give up our rights.
Don't forget this is how Hitler eventually gained power. Think of all the founding fathers and how they told us to take care of our Republic. They warned us this would happen, now we have allowed our rights to be taken away.
We let our government do this to us time and time again, all in the name of watching soaps, or wondering who Britney Spears is dating next, or what sport's team is going to win the pennant.
We need to focus on protecting our freedoms, and do it together as a country.
If we don't our country will be hijacked and we will be America no more.
Remember this from childhood?
United we stand, divided we fall.
Truer words were never spoken.
A) the events of Waco will be relived.
B) either the people of Montana will have to form a people's militia, and throw the ATF out of Montana, or the Montana governor will have to raise state troops to do the same
C) the Montana government will kowtow to the ATF, and they will have their way anyhow.
Personally, I'd like to see option B. Its about time the federal government bureaucrats realize that we will not put up with their intrusions into our lives. We are a collection of soveriegn states. The second ammendment forbids the federal government from infringing upon the right of the people to keep and bear arms. It is time the federal government gets its nose, out of our business.
In contrast, Montana has simply found an overlooked "loophole." You'd think the libs would love it, wouldn't you?
I'm with you, Shane. Option B.
I truly despise the people that say things along the lines of, 'they'll have to shoot me in the head before...'. Because when they get the power and the desire to come for our our guns, our children, or our lives, I fear that they will.
Then what? There are a lot of dead bodies, stolen children, and seized guns. Their deaths will have meant nothing to the people that killed them, they will continue the suffering of their children, and they will dig us all that much further into the ground. All because, as stated in the Declaration of Independence, "...all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed."
These people must not be allowed to get the power to do so, because as history often shows: when they get that power, they use it.
"If you seek peace, prepare for war"
If that crap starts you will see states secede from the federal government.
MY answer to BATF!! COME GET SOME!!!
This is what I have currently.
I also have another ---well several OTHERS---but for really reaching out and TOUCHING someone I still like what I used in NAM----
complete with ALL the extras- switches and stealthiness (real quiet) YA it is the one I carried the pic is real close to it! MINE don't have a red nose price!!