Thread: FEDS: STATES HAVE NO RIGHTS

FEDS: STATES HAVE NO RIGHTS

By Chuck Baldwin
October 13, 2011
NewsWithViews.com

In a recent column appearing on InfoWars.com, Kurt Nimmo succinctly and correctly pointed out that the federal government's usurpation of State sovereignty, jurisdiction, and authority is worsening. The current case in point is the recent open letter to all firearms dealers by the ATF. Nimmo begins, "In its continuing effort to pare down the number of Americans who can exercise their rights under the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has sent a letter to firearms dealers informing them that medical patients 'addicted' to legally dispensed medical marijuana have no right to own and possess firearms.

"According to Arthur Herbert, Assistant Director of Enforcement Programs and Services at the ATF, 'any person who uses or is addicted to marijuana, regardless of whether his or her State has passed legislation authorizing marijuana use of medicinal purposes, is an unlawful user or addicted to a controlled substance, and is prohibited by Federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition' and will be compelled to admit the prescribed use of medical marijuana on ATF forms at the point of purchase."

Nimmo goes on to point out, "More significantly, the ATF's move to deny cancer and other patients medical marijuana is part of a larger attempt to roll back the Second Amendment by color of law and also attack states' rights as guaranteed by the Tenth Amendment."

And it's not just medical marijuana and cancer patients that the ATF--and its water boys in Congress--wants to deny Second Amendment rights to. As has been previously reported, many of our nation's veterans are also on the "hit list" as not eligible to keep and bear arms.

See the report here. http://gunowners.org/a091207.htm

Beyond that, any person who has been diagnosed with a "mental disorder" is also in the cross hairs for having their Second Amendment rights expunged. And, of course, "mental disorder" could include anyone from a returning combat veteran who suffers from "post-traumatic stress disorder," or "combat fatigue," to someone who was prescribed medication for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) as a child, to someone who was diagnosed as suffering from bipolar disorder. In other words, the federal government wants the power to classify just about anyone it wants to as having a "mental disorder" and, therefore, be denied their right to keep and bear arms.

But there is even more. Nimmo writes, "In 2009, Democrat and notorious gun-grabber Rep. Carolyn McCarthy introduced The No Fly, No Buy Act (H.R. 2401), a bill that would have merged the TSA's no-fly list with the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), a point-of-sale system for determining eligibility to purchase a firearm.

"The current mayor of Chicago--the largest anti-Second Amendment city in the country after New York City--and former Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel proposed that anybody on the fed's no-fly list (numbering in the tens of thousands) should have their Second Amendment stripped."

Of course, if having one's name on the no-fly list makes one a terrorist, why wasn't former senator Ted Kennedy so identified? It is a matter of public record that he was detained several times by TSA agents, because his name kept showing up on the no-fly list.

Nimmo concludes his column by saying, "The feds are determined to whittle away at the Second Amendment and this under-handed effort to make gun dealers responsible for determining if their customers are marijuana 'addicts'--under penalty of losing their licenses--is part of the long term plan to disarm the American people."

See Nimmo's column here. http://tinyurl.com/6ggsabg

This draconian decision by the ATF hits people in my home State of Montana especially hard. Under the laws of the State of Montana, a person is lawfully allowed to receive prescribed amounts of medical marijuana for legitimate health reasons (I know many of these people personally). And contrary to what anyone inside the Beltway says, marijuana in medicinal amounts has been proven to greatly assist people who suffer from a variety of maladies. Furthermore, the misuse of alcohol--which is also known to help treat a variety of illnesses in medicinal amounts, which even the Holy Scripture collaborates in I Timothy 5:23--inflicts far greater havoc upon both the individual user and society in general than marijuana has or could ever inflict.

It is also true that the so-called "war on drugs" by the federal government is not only an abject failure, it has become a tool by which power-hungry despot-wannabes strip hundreds of thousands of harmless, peaceful Americans of their freedoms and liberties. There are tens of thousands of people languishing behind prison walls that have never harmed a single person, have never stolen, have never committed an act of violence, or have never even shown the slightest aggression toward a fellow human being. They languish for decades and even for a lifetime in harsh prison conditions because of this never-ending, always escalating "war on drugs."

Talk about a financial cost to taxpayers: the cost of incarcerating tens and hundreds of thousands of harmless, nonviolent drug users--not to mention the cost of investigating, arresting, arraigning, and trying them--literally dwarfs whatever the cost would be to let them live peacefully in society, or even to allow churches and special-needs ministries and hospitals to treat them.

But a few things the "war on drugs" does accomplish is it serves as a major reason to increase federal funding for all kinds of Gestapo-like tactics at every level of government; it provides justification for governmental restrictions of civil liberties; and it is a major excuse for the exponential growth of the emerging police state. And dare I even mention the fact that it is now absolutely certain that persons (at the highest levels) and agencies within the federal government have been (and are) reaping gargantuan profits via illegal drug trafficking. As one retired federal agent (that's right, federal agent) who was personally involved in the feds' "war on drugs" for decades personally told me, "Chuck, the federal government hates competition." (I'm not making it up; that's what he said.) Oh yes! It also allows the ATF to deny Second Amendment rights to more and more people!

America desperately needs State governors to draw a line in the sand against this federal leviathan for the protection of the liberties and freedoms of the citizens within his or her State! Let me say it bluntly: we desperately need a State governors to tell the feds to go to Hades! If State leaders would stop cooperating with and submitting to these would-be tyrants, I am convinced the people of the states would rally behind them in record numbers and speed! I am absolutely convinced that this would be the case in the Mountain States anyway. And when the feds attempt to withhold federal tax dollars from these courageous, albeit recalcitrant states, it needs to be remembered that the states can do likewise. They can withhold tax revenues from the feds: two can play that game! All it would take would be a plucky governor with enough backbone to do it!

In the meantime, combat veterans, people who have taken certain prescription drugs, people who have shown up on no-fly lists, and now people who have been lawfully issued a particular medical card can be denied their right to keep and bear arms by the US government. When will the American people ever have enough?

P.S. I think it fitting at this juncture to remind readers that one of the reasons so many pastors and Christians offer so little resistance to the unconstitutional conduct of our civil magistrates in Washington, D.C., is because of the erroneous and fallacious interpretation of Romans chapter 13. Let me remind everyone that I have a four-part message series on "The True Meaning of Romans 13" available on one DVD. I strongly encourage readers to obtain this DVD and to distribute it as widely as possible. I am convinced that the correct interpretation of Romans 13 could literally change the course and direction of our country! To obtain a copy of this Romans 13 DVD, click here.

*If you appreciate this column and want to help me distribute these editorial opinions to an ever-growing audience, donations may now be made by credit card, check, or Money Order. Use this link.

© 2011 Chuck Baldwin - All Rights Reserved

Chuck Baldwin is a syndicated columnist, radio broadcaster, author, and pastor dedicated to preserving the historic principles upon which America was founded. He was the 2008 Presidential candidate for the Constitution Party. He and his wife, Connie, have 3 children and 8 grandchildren. Chuck and his family reside in the Flathead Valley of Montana. See Chuck's complete bio here.

E-mail: chuck@chuckbaldwinlive.com

http://www.newswithviews.com/baldwin/baldwin670.htm

The U.S. Government A.K.A. "CRIME INC." is completely OUT OF CONTROL

Both sides of the isle "The Left & the Right"

you better start wondering WHY?

Veterans Disarmament Bill Could Come Before The Senate At Any Time

-- GOA provides Senators with several pro-gun amendments

Gun Owners of America
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102
Springfield, VA 22151
(703)321-8585

"Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston!" -- Patrick Henry, in his "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech of March 23, 1775

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

The Senate could bring up the Veterans Disarmament Bill at any time, as a result of its passage in the Judiciary Committee a few weeks ago. The bill -- introduced by F-rated Rep. Carolyn McCarthy and Sen. Patrick Leahy -- is ready to come to the floor.

Gun Owners of America delivered draft amendments to every Senate office yesterday, providing important changes that must be made to the bill. Among others, the most important amendment would make it clear that veterans suffering from PTSD are NOT prohibited persons, and thus, are not to be denied the ability to purchase a firearm simply because of emotional problems resulting from their service to this country.

The Military Order of the Purple Heart is opposed to the McCarthy-Leahy bill, having stated on June 18 of this year, that "For the first time the legislation, if enacted, would statutorily impose a lifetime gun ban on battle-scarred veterans."

Military veterans are justifiably concerned that this bill will legitimize the very thing that President Clinton did over seven years ago, when his administration added 83,000 names of veterans -- suffering from maladies such as PTSD -- into the NICS background check system.

Proponents of the bill argue that this bill gives veterans a mechanism for getting their names off of the prohibited person list. That's like giving a mugger access to your home, but then stating you can hire a lawyer and pay THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS of dollars to eventually (maybe) get your stolen items back.

If the proponents are right -- that this bill will actually help gun owners -- then surely they won't object to friendly amendments that are designed to make it unmistakably clear that military veterans or grownups who suffered with ADHD as children will never be denied the ability to purchase a firearm, simply because they once had a "determination" from an anti-gun shrink that said there was the MINISCULE possibility that they could pose a danger to themselves or others.

You can be sure that if the McCarthy-Leahy bill passes, it will just be a first step. Consider some of the bigoted statements made by celebrities and politicians which not only show their contempt for gun owners but their pompous thinking which leads them to believe that we are all crazy for wanting to own a gun:

•"I don't know that he's mentally qualified to own that gun." -- Democrat Presidential candidate Joe Biden, insulting a YouTube viewer during a debate after the man referred to his semi-auto as his "baby" (July 25, 2007).

•"Isn't it possible that we all have that bit of insanity in us? That's why I'm for gun control.... I don't really believe that a human being who feels [things] should have the option [that is, access to a gun] at their fingertips." -- Actress Jodie Foster, quoted in a Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence press release (August 20, 2007).
And then there're the studies which will be, no doubt, used by liberal anti-gunners to strip away the gun rights from more and more law-abiding citizens, using the pretext that a shrink's diagnosis proves these people shouldn't own guns:

•"A quarter of the Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans treated with US government-funded health care have been diagnosed with a mental disorder, according to a study published Monday." -- AFP news (March 12, 2007)

•"The number of American children and adolescents treated for bipolar disorder increased 40-fold from 1994 to 2003, researchers report today in the most comprehensive study of the controversial diagnosis. Experts say the number has almost certainly risen further since 2003." -- New York Times (September 4, 2007)

Even before the studies started rolling in, gun haters were already working the legal loopholes as best they could. When the Veterans Administration got caught adding veterans' names into the NICS system during the Clinton presidency, they defended their actions by saying it was "required by law" -- a statement which was just flat out false.

But it's notable to hear what a spokesman for the VA said in an interview with WoldNetDaily (June 27, 2000). He said the most common way of finding a veteran "incompetent" is when he or she receives a formal rating of incompetency from a VA panel of medical representatives or from "a duly authorized VA medical center, government agency, or even a PRIVATE PHYSICIAN." (Emphasis added.)

That's what HR 2640 is all about. McCarthy and Leahy (and others like Sen. Chuck Schumer) are forging the legal chains that will be used to keep hundreds of thousands -- if not millions -- of decent, law-abiding Americans from owning guns... not because of what a court rules, but because of what ONE INDIVIDUAL says.

Over two hundred years ago, Patrick Henry warned about the "chains" that were being forged to enslave them. If he were here today, would he not warn us again?

Thankfully, there are many of you who are sounding the alarm. State groups from all over the nation are pumping out alerts to supplement what GOA is doing at the national level. Just yesterday, the New Hampshire Firearms Coalition (NHFC) called its members to action, stating that HR 2640 is a Trojan Horse, which sounds justified on the outside with promises of keeping "mental defectives" from having firearms. But when one takes a closer look at the details of the bill, the group said, it reveals "a huge expansion in those who will become a prohibited person; an expansion that could potentially include most Americans."

In addition to pointing out how many shrinks could prohibit average Americans from owning guns, NHFC points out that many pediatricians could make similar anti-gun "determinations" (using the language of the bill) to disarm their patients -- since after all, these docs believe that "any household with firearms is 'dangerous,' even if they are properly stored."

Good point.

ACTION:

1. Stay informed. GOA has a mammoth section on our website which both gives the specifics of the Veterans Disarmament Act and answers the claims made by supporters of the bill. Please go to http://www.gunowners.org/netb.htm to get more information, including the proposed GOA amendments that were delivered to each Senator on Tuesday.

2. Alert others. Forward this alert to pro-gun friends and family and ask them to take action as well.

3. Take action. Please contact your Senators, even if you have already done so. You can use the pre-written message below and send it as an e-mail by visiting the GOA Legislative Action Center (where phone and fax numbers are also available).

----- Pre-written letter -----
Dear Senator:

I oppose the Veterans Disarmament Act, which is being pushed by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (HR 2640) and Sen. Patrick Leahy. This bill will expand the 1993 Brady Law and disarm hundreds of thousands of combat veterans, among others.

I understand that Gun Owners of America distributed several amendments recently to every senatorial office to address the mistaken arguments that supporters of the bill have. I also understand that proponents of this bill are claiming it will actually help gun owners.

They argue that this bill gives veterans a mechanism for getting their names off of the prohibited person list. That's like giving a mugger access to your home, but then stating you can hire a lawyer and pay thousands upon thousands of dollars to eventually (maybe) get your stolen items back.

Well, if the proponents are right -- that this bill will actually help gun owners -- then surely they won't object to friendly amendments that are designed to make it unmistakably clear that military veterans or grownups who suffered with ADHD as children will never be denied the ability to purchase a firearm, simply because they once had a "determination" from an anti-gun shrink that said there was the MINISCULE possibility that they could pose a danger to themselves or others. That is what the GOA amendments are designed to do.

I still believe that the Brady Law has done more to register gun owners and deny guns from of law-abiding Americans than to keep guns out of criminals' hands. But adopting these amendments will at least prevent an anti-gun administration from doing what the Clintons did in 2000 when the Veterans Administration added the names of some 83,000 veterans into the NICS system.

Sincerely,

****************************
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http://gunowners.org/a091207.htm