Yesterday, I touched on the topic of some states passing the Firearms Freedom Act. Originally introduced and passed in Montana, the FFA declares that any firearms made and retained in-state are beyond the authority of Congress under its constitutional power to regulate commerce among the states. This is probably the best way to defeat Obama’s gun control agenda that we have at the present.
So, in its purest form, without restriction, the FFA would allow a firearm that is built and kept within a state to remain un-infringed from gun control zealots and bureaucratic miasmas.
The only reason the Federal Government can come up with to justify its jurisdiction over firearms in the first place is through the Commerce Clause, which allows them to regulate interstate trade. The leap between regulating trade and infringing on the Second Amendment rights of Americans is a governmental overreach and is as insincere as it is cravenness.
If every state were to pass a true Firearm Freedom Act, then the unconstitutional infringements and taxes found in the ludicrously named Firearm Owners Protection Act would be circumvented completely. FFA also shields states from Obama’s desire for a Semi Automatic Rifle Ban.
In theory, if Texas were to pass a full FFA, they could forge, assemble and sell machine guns, suppressors and large capacity magazines within the state without having to jump through the Federal hoops. Remember, these things are legal all ready, but they require excessive Federal taxes to be paid while also needing to be registered as well as being subject to approval by the Federal Government in the first place. Those three requirements in and of themselves are an affront to the Second Amendment AND to States’ Rights.
Upon passage, even if a ban of these or semi automatic rifles were to pass through Congress, so long as the weapon was built in Texas and stayed there, the Federal Government would have no justification for interceding since the the whole premise of Federal Gun Control is based off the Commerce Clause.
While the Federal Government uses the Commerce Clause to justify its gun control policy, State FFA’s are a 10th Amendment challenge to this overreach.
8 States have all ready passed an FFA while 26 others have either introduced legislation or are intending to soon. I encourage everyone to contact your state representatives and let them know that this is something that you want to see move forward.
The Firearms Freedom Act (FFA) is sweeping the Nation.
Originally introduced and passed in Montana, the FFA declares that any firearms made and retained in-state are beyond the authority of Congress under its constitutional power to regulate commerce among the states.
Following initial Montana enactment, clones of the Firearms Freedom Act have subsequently been enacted in Tennessee, Utah, Wyoming and South Dakota, and other clones have been introduced in the legislatures of twenty-some other states.
The FFA is primarily a Tenth Amendment challenge to the powers of Congress under the “commerce clause,” with firearms as the object – it is a state’s rights exercise.
