Devvy Kidd -- New Gun Bill in Congress: More Unconstitutional Claptrap

We all knew it was just a matter of time. Mandatory federal gun licensing. Gun owners: Now is the time to show your clout. Never mind if you belong to the NRA, GOAA or none of the above: Now is the time to tell Congress No. Now is the time to tell your local Sheriff that you will not submit to yet another unconstitutional federal junk law.

For conservatives out there: Let me remind you - this is a Republican controlled Congress. In a perfect world, this type of legislation would never get out of committee with a GOP controlled Congress. However, we know that Congress is full of anti-Second Amendment Republicans. This particularly odious piece of legislation was introduced by Congressman Rush Holt, [D- N J], bud of Comrade Nancy Pelosi.

Holt has never met a welfare cause or politically correct issue he didn't like and wants you to fund. This man is quite obviously constitutionally challenged and despises the very freedoms we have been given by God. It's time for every gun owner in this country to tell these people and your local sheriff that We the People will not roll over and let our God-given rights be stripped from US.

H.R. 124 hasn't come back from GPO yet, but has gone to the Committee on the Judiciary. Due to space restraint, here are a few highlights:

Sec 2. Federal Handgun Licensing and Registration System to Apply in Any State That Does Not Have a Handgun Licensing and Registration System That Meets Certain Requirements

(a) IN GENERAL- Chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

(a)(1) The Attorney General shall establish a Federal system for the licensing and registration of all handguns owned, possessed, or controlled in the United States, which shall include a method for easily retrieving information sufficient to identify--

Since when does Congress, under Art. 1, Sec. 8, have the authority to dictate anything you read above? Never. They have only gotten away with it the past because The People have let them get away with it. No more. The original Bill of Rights as provided in the first Ten Amendment to the Constitution of these united States of America, effective December 15, 1791, contain this language:

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

These few words have turned into 10,00 court decisions and made anti-gun attorneys fat cats. A million words have been put into court decisions by judges trying to figure out one of the most simple rights We the People were given by our Creator, not any government.

These critters in Congress seem to forget the order of things: The lawmakers of the colonies, realizing that some areas that affected everyone needed to be uniform: war, trade, commerce, copyright, patents, taxation, began the process of setting up a central government with limited areas of legislation well defined.

The prominent leaders and lawmakers of the time got together, hashed out the fine points and created the U.S. Constitution, which included those rights God-given to man that would not be violated, infringed, made into privileges or anything else.

While the circuit courts have been all over the place on this issue, there were two very important U.S. Supreme Court decisions within the last decade that have direct bearing on this junk bill:

In the Gun Free School Zones Act of 1990, Congress made it a federal offense "for any individual knowingly to possess a firearm at a place that the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone." 18 U.S.C. § 922(q)(1)(A) (1988 ed., Supp. V).

The Act neither regulates a commercial activity nor contains a requirement that the possession be connected in any way to interstate commerce. We hold that the Act exceeds the authority of Congress "[to] regulate Commerce . . . among the several States . . . ." U. S. Const., Art. I, §8, cl. 3.

Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act provisions require the Attorney General to establish a national system for instantly checking prospective handgun purchasers' backgrounds, note following 18 U.S.C. § 922 and command the "chief law enforcement officer" (CLEO) of each local jurisdiction to conduct such checks and perform related tasks on an interim basis until the national system becomes operative, §922(s).

Petitioners, the CLEOs for counties in Montana and Arizona, filed separate actions challenging the interim provisions' constitutionality. In each case, the District Court held that the background check provision was unconstitutional, but concluded that it was severable from the remainder of the Act, effectively leaving a voluntary background check system in place. The Ninth Circuit reversed, finding none of the interim provisions unconstitutional.

1. The Brady Act's interim provision commanding CLEOs to conduct background checks, §922(s)(2), is unconstitutional. Extinguished with it is the duty implicit in the background check requirement that the CLEO accept completed handgun applicant statements (Brady Forms) from firearms dealers, §§922(s)(1)(A)(i)(III) and (IV). Pp. 4-34.

H.R. 124 most definitely falls within both the above decisions. Congress, once again, is attempting to legislate in an area for which they have no constitutional authority. Most likely, these cretins in Congress know this to be true. However, it does keep real Americans fighting such anti-American legislation, using valuable time and financial resources that could be directed elsewhere. Not to mention, it continues to enrich despicable lawyers who continue to get rich off the gun issue.

Without our guns, we're toast. Without our guns, we will be another North Korea before you can blink. Freedom is for the bravehearts. I hope everyone will join me in sending Congress critter Holt a polite but pointed e-mail, along with your house member and your local Sheriff. The old way of doing things is over. Tell these people NO. Let them know what We the People will not compromise or bend another inch. Call their bluff. There's 70 million of us. Let them chew on that fact.

Your local Sheriff: Check the white pages at the front of your phone book or use a search engine

Devvy Kidd is the founder and Director of POWER (Project on Winning Economic Reform). Has been a guest on more than 1500 radio shows, given hundreds of speeches and has run for Congress twice. Sales of her little booklets, "Why A Bankrupt America" and "Blind Loyalty" sold close to 2,000,000 copies. Devvy's web site is: www.devvy.com

wallace@devvy.com