The Tennessee legislature considered and approved several bills this year to reduce restrictions on firearms, including one bill that its sponsors labeled the "Tennessee Firearms Freedom Act." It passed overwhelmingly -- 87-1 in the House and 22-7 in the Senate -- despite warnings by some lawmakers that it could subject Tennessee citizens to federal prosecution and imprisonment.
"This bill simply asserts that if a firearms and/or ammunition is made totally within the state of Tennessee, then the federal government has no jurisdiction over that item in any fashion, so long as it remains in the state and outside of interstate commerce," Sen. Mae Beavers, R-Mt. Juliet, the bill's sponsor, said on the Senate floor when it passed there in June.
The bill was a two-fer for conservatives in the legislature: a gun bill and a state sovereignty bill rolled into one.
"An effort by the federal government to regulate intrastate commerce under the guise of powers implied by the interstate commerce clause could only result in encroachment of the state's power to regulate commerce within its borders," said Beavers.
But ATF Asst. Director Carson W. Carroll, head of the agency's enforcement programs and services, sent an "Open Letter to all Tennessee Firearms Licensees" a month later that explained the agency's position on the law.
Comment by:
(#05314) Entered on: 2009-09-24 20:41:29
I believe that you will find that the States were made subordinate to the corporate UNITED STATES (Federal) by the US Civil War.
The Southern Confederate States were made subordinate as a 'prize of war', and the other States by way of 'debtor servitude'.
This nullifies the 10th Amendment and any other provisions of States' Rights.
The 'peoples' rights have been nullified by their having been made 'subjects of' (plantation slaves of) the corporate UNITED STATES through the unlawful use (theft of use) of the State owned legal identity name (birth certificate name) and through the second 13th Amendment that allows involuntary servitude to be imposed on convicted criminals. As the UNITED STATES is a corporation, and all corporations are 'make-believe' ships at sea, maritime law prevails, where an accused is guilty unless proven innocent.
There has to be a lot more 'waking-up' by the American people before there is any hope of recovering what the few truly patriotic Founding Fathers (most weren't) had in mind for the Grand Republic.
Comment by:
Ken Creamer (#19648) Entered on: 2009-09-24 18:07:20
There is so much disillusionment and misinformation associated with federal law among the serious grass roots effort to restore Liberty as Union State Sovereignty it is nearly impossible to discuss critical matters relating to federal and Union State authority.Go to the Constitution at Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 and Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2 and therein you will find the total power, range, and scope of Congress’ ability to legislate.Since Congress is the Constitutional legislative body for the whole of federal territory, it is basically the state legislature for all federal areas the same as any one of the Union States.However, there are instrumentalities within federal territory (instrumentalities of the United States) all throughout federal territory such as Puerto Rico for example that Congress as designated and defined as states; hence, the dual and confusing meaning and use of the term “state.”When Congress defines the term state to include federal territory and doesn’t list the Union States in that definition, the associated legislation associated with that definition has absolutely no application in Union State territory.
To intellectually understand the issue of Gun Control and any notion that federal law trumps state law, go to poorclydesalmanac.info and read the two articles “Dual Sovereignty” and “Gun Control.From there you’ll be able to wear your hat straight on you head because all federal Gun Control laws apply only in federal territory.You’ll also notice that Congress redefined “interstate commerce” to include only those transactions which go through federal territory.So, the qualification added to the Tennessee gun freedom law that all the guns and ammo most be made in Tennessee is not necessary.The guns, ammo, and the parts need therein need only to have not traveled through federal territory.
The research has done to uncover the truth.The grass roots participants and their leaders need only to read it and lead accordingly.
Comment by:
David40 (#21904) Entered on: 2009-09-24 14:28:43
These states need to pass an additional resolution that states the Fed will not receive any help or protection from the state or local authorities in the event they try to enforce any infringing federal gun laws.
Comment by:
Trouser Chili (#06119) Entered on: 2009-09-24 12:38:52
Montana, Tennessee, and the subsequent states that pass these laws need to give them teeth.
How about making it a punishable offense to arrest ATF agents who interfere with the state law. How about making it a non-crime for an individual to defend himself against ATF agents trying to prosecute federal gun laws?
