Nullification: Twenty-five States With Firearms Freedom Acts PDF | Print | E-mail
Written by Ann Shibler
Thursday, 25 March 2010 09:36
Tired of a Congress that continually ignores the Constitution and its principles of limited government, coupled with non-responsive representation in that body, activists are taking their freedom fight to their state legislatures. They have found sympathetic ears and pro-active representation at a level a bit closer to home with the principle of nullification.

Exactly half of the state legislatures of these United States of America are engaged in nullifying, or have passed, nullification laws that restrict the authority of the federal government in the area of gun control. Entitled Firearms Freedom Acts and closely modeled on the Montana Firearms Freedom Act, these legislatures are trying to stop the overreach of the federal government by simply ignoring the government’s false claim to regulation under the Commerce Clause in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution and declaring the state’s authority over firearms, accessories and ammunition under the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution. It is a sign of the times and a return to state sovereignty in opposition to the continued expansion of government.

Six states have achieved their legislative firearms freedom goals: Montana, Tennessee, Wyoming, Utah, South Dakota and Oklahoma have all passed the legislation.

So far Wyoming’s FFA and New Hampshire’s FFA are the only ones with a little bite to them, as those bills contain fines and jail time for state or federal officials who attempt to enforce federal gun control laws in their states. Virginia was poised to be another state that would have its FFA passed and signed into law. Its House had already passed its FFA; however, after some dirty tricks and rule-breaking in the Virginia State Senate, it will take the courage of at least one state senator to use a rare floor procedure to get Virginia’s HB 69 back on the floor for a recorded vote. Otherwise, Virginia will be back to square one. Residents of Virginia can click here to contact your state senators in support of HB 69.

That leaves 19 states that have introduced similar legislation. Some of the newly introduced legislation is clearly stalled in state house or senate committees, often the Judiciary committee. There needs to be a caution inserted at this point: everyone understands this is an election year in a particularly turbulent and contentious political climate, so there may be those state legislators who will be pandering to the conservative or tea party movement, or simply grandstanding, by helping to introduce or sponsor FFAs because public opinion is very much in favor of less gun control.

Some politicians have gone so far as to say any type of nullification legislation at the state level is merely symbolic. Some see it as being defiant or rebellious, useful only for sending a message to those in power to sit up and take notice. And then there are those who call the measures pointless. Rep. Chris Hart, D-Columbia, in the South Carolina state legislature sees it as secessionist in nature. Commenting on his state’s call to restore the proper balance to the federal system Hart said, “We’re talking about seceding from the union. I thought we tried that.â€