Gun Nut Roundup - July '09

Nat'l Concealed Carry Reciprocity Amendment Fails

An amendment attached to another bill, sponsored by Republican Senators John Thune (SD) and David Vitter (LA), that would have made states which issue concealed carry permits also recognize similar permits from other states failed in the Senate.

The two states that don't issue permits would have been unaffected, and all federal, state and local gun laws would have remained in force. The U.S. Constitution compels states to give "full faith and credit" to the public acts of other states (like marriage and driver's licenses) and gives the U.S. Congress power to "prescribe the manner in which such acts [...] shall be proved, and the effect thereof." Nonetheless, such noted states rights activists as Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein opposed the amendment on states rights grounds.

Due to parliamentary wrangling that you don't care about, this amendment required 60 votes to be accepted, rather than a simple majority. However it only received 58 votes. You can see how your Senators voted on this important issue here. I bet national reciprocity bills will be introduced every year until it's passed.

34 State Attorneys General Urge 'Incorporation' of Second Amendment

Fully two-thirds of state attorneys general have petitioned the Supreme Court to hear the case of NRA v. Chicago (and/or McDonald v. Chicago) and rule that the Second Amendment applies to state and local governments via the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause. 33 state AG's signed onto one brief. The AG of California filed his own brief. (Well, lah-dee-dah!)

While the Supreme Court last year ruled in the Heller case that the Second Amendment protects an individual right, the parties involved lived in a federal enclave. Now the Second Amendment must be applied to the states through a process called incorporation, a process that most of the rest of the bill of rights has already gone through.

Bill Would Deny Second Amendment To Citizens Without Pesky Due Process

The "Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2009," introduced by famously anti-gun Senator Frank Lautenberg, would deny Second Amendment rights to people placed on government "watch lists."

How does one get on such a watch list? As Bawb has previously reported, DHS documents cast suspicion on such innocuous activities as supporting tax or immigration reform or being a member of the "alternate media." (Gulp!) Could some anti-gun U.S. Attorney General get his hands on a list of the 4-million NRA members (or any other political opponents) and place them on the list? You bet!

There is no need for a trial or any other due process to be placed on the list. Arousing the "suspicion" of the AG is sufficient. You won't know that you're on the list and if you find out you are, there's no judicial process to get off. Ironic that this stuff is currently being pushed by a party that still decries the "McCarthyism" that took place in the 1950's.