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The
Hill
States
to feds: Hands off our guns
By Benjamin Goad
03/17/13
A
growing number of states are
moving forward with legislation to exempt them from new federal gun
controls
and, in some cases, brand as criminals anyone who tries to enforce them.
While
many of the bills are
considered symbolic or appear doomed to fail, the legislative explosion
reflects a backlash against legislative and regulatory efforts in
Washington to
tamp down on gun violence.
As
of this week, at least 28 states
had taken up consideration of gun bills this year, according to new
data
compiled by the National Conference of State Legislatures. More than 70
bills
have been put forward in all.
The
burst of activity comes as the
Obama administration and Congress pursue a series of gun control
measures in
the wake of December’s shooting massacre in Connecticut, which left 20
schoolchildren and six adults dead.
In
addition to dozens of bills
pending in the House and Senate, the Justice Department and other
agencies are
moving ahead 23 executive actions announced by President Obama in
January.
The
state bills vary in content and
scope, but most are meant to nullify federal regulations that place new
restrictions on gun rights, or other measures viewed as encroaching on
the
Second Amendment.
A
bill approved this month by Utah’s House of
Representatives, for example, was designed to assert the state’s rights
to
enforce its own gun laws, according to its author, GOP Rep. Brian
Greene.
“We
saw all of this activity in D.C.,” Greene
said, referring to the legislative efforts and a series of roundtable
meetings
held by Obama’s taskforce on gun violence. “It became apparent
immediately that
state jurisdiction was irrelevant to them.”
The
bill effectively died this week, when the
state’s legislative session ended, but Greene said he might introduce
it when
the legislature reconvenes.
In
Montana, a similar bill prohibiting state
or local police from enforcing a federal assault weapons ban has passed
both
houses of the state legislature and awaits reconciliation between the
two
chambers before it goes to the governor.
Gov.
Steve Bullock, a Democrat, has not
revealed his position on the bill.
Montana
went for Republican presidential
candidate Mitt Romney by double digits in November. And GOP Rep.
Krayton Kerns,
who penned the legislation, noted that Bullock would be up for
reelection in a
few years…
Read
the rest of the article at The
Hill
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