Posted on 03/12/2010 6:33:43 AM PST by marktwain
Font Size: Default font size Larger font size
Gov. Dave Freudenthal on Thursday signed into law a bill that seeks to exempt firearms made in Wyoming and used exclusively in the state from federal regulations, making the state the latest to try to undermine federal authority on gun regulation.
Montana, Tennessee and Utah have already passed similar legislation to exempt firearms made in their states from federal regulations and Idaho and Alaska have been considering it.
A lawsuit over the issue is brewing in Montana, where gun advocates are arguing that the state should decide which rules, if any, should control the sale and purchase of guns made and used in the state.
Freudenthal expressed concerns that the new law could leave firearms dealers in the state caught between contradictory demands of state and federal law.
Freudenthal wrote to legislative leaders saying he wanted to alert the public and lawmakers about problems he saw in House Bill 95, dubbed the "Wyoming Firearms Freedom Act" by supporters. The governor said it should have received greater attention in drafting and content.
"This act is a notable illustration of well-intended legislation rushed through without appropriate consideration of potential unintended consequences," Freudenthal wrote.
(Excerpt) Read more at trib.com ...
The Supreme Court, interpreting the United States Constitution's Commerce Clause (which permits the United States Congress to "regulate Commerce . . . among the several States") decided that, because Filburn's wheat growing activities reduced the amount of wheat he would buy for chicken feed on the open market, and because wheat was traded nationally, Filburn's production of more wheat than he was allotted was affecting interstate commerce, and so could be regulated by the federal government.
From wiki, on relevant precedent. The Insane Clown Posse in DC believes it controls everything.
Sheesh. How could the guy be so dense? Has he heard or seen nothing of the anger raging in statehouses across the country at being trampled by the feds, not just on this issue, but across the board?
My God, that’s obscene. The government’s given itself carte blanche to make anything criminal under the lens of “interstate commerce.” I would bet there are fingerlets of law that specifically deal with prosecution under this lame law.
Property rights are dead with this passage. Anything I do on my land is my business, IMO.
Oh, he’s seen it. “Governor Dave” is not a stupid man.
For the record, he’s a damn sight smarter than most of the clowns in the GOP at the national level. If I had a choice between nitwits like Newt, Huckabee, the Bushes or Romney as POTUS or Gov. Dave, I’d take Dave in a second.
Gov. Dave is, however, a lawyer, and I’m sure he’s looking down the road at the cost to fight litigation that the Feds might bring on this law.
What will be the practical consequences of this?
If a gunshop fails to register the sale of a Wyoming-made firearm to a Wyoming resident, as permitted under this law, the jack-booted thugs of the BATFE will be all over them in a heartbeat.
No one had told me we've been living in a pure command economy for more than half a century.
If I want to put up a HAM radio antenna, I’d have to fight my association. If I want to grow crops on my land, I shouldn’t have to answer to anyone. My land, my sweat, my money... or could the government say that since my money is Federal and could cross state lines, it’s considered part of the commerce clause and thus paid for everything? It’s a redundantly redundant law.
It’s nothing short of a rationale for dictatorship.
With a sympathetic court, I think we’d be in some trouble.
Pray for our Republic.
The bill that the governor just signed has more in it - strengthened state preemption of gun laws - modeled on Ohio and other state’s laws.
I LOVE this...suddenly the states are flipping the bird at the power-grabbing, rights trampling Fed.
A good argument against stare dicesis.
The judicial oath is the ultimate argument against stare.
I can’t see how to set the issue right without some expense. Better treasure than blood.
Which is why such a sale would never happen in an federal-firearms-licensed gun shop. It would instead be between the Wyoming manufacturer (a machinist operating out of his basement) to the Wyoming resident.
In any event, it is not a violation of federal law to make a firearm yourself, for your personal use. And computer-controlled milling machines get cheaper every year. So a person could create milling software that would enable a milling machine to make a firearm receiver. Another person could rent time on a CNC machine. If you want to make a firearm, rent a day on the machine, install the software and a chunk of metal, and hit the button to start the machine.
Right on!
...the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
What authority???? ... the text is pretty $#^&ing clear.
Yeah, more like the latest state to mention in current legislation what was written down in plain English on paper centuries ago. (Why is that even necessary again?)
True.
Gov. Dave has been a very fiscally prudent governor, however, and this past fiscal year, there’s been a 10% cut across the board in state spending in Wyoming. Almost nothing was exempt, not even the typical sacred “education spending” nonsense. Public schools and community colleges had to buckle down and get tight with the money - because the alternative would be raising taxes, something that Gov. Dave is very loathe to do.
This is why I think he’s a damn sight more competent than the typical idiots in the GOP. The GOP has talked a big game on cutting spending.
Gov. Dave, however, has actually cut spending. Not just reduced the rate of growth, but spent less this past year than the previous year - ie, a real reduction in public spending. If the GOP could actually do the same thing, they would not be a minority party.
Exactly correct - you can make plenty of firearms for yourself.
Do NOT sell them tho, because once you cross that threshold, you bring down a big wad of law and regulation onto yourself.
CNC mills need not be all that expensive. You can find 3-axis retrofits to Bridgeport-style mills quite reasonably now. With a used knee mill and some effort on your part, you could put together a 3-axis CNC mill for under $10K.
That said, without a simulator, there’s a bit more to CNC than loading the metal and hitting the green button. It is mighty expensive to debug a CNC program by trying to run it for real when you’re eating up $50 to $100 end mills and a billet of metal...
As I mentioned on another thread, it is entirely possible for you to buy a used manual mill for the $2K range. It wouldn’t take you more than a week of evenings after work to crank out your first AR-15 lower from a billet - and once you’ve done one (and learned from your mistakes), you will get much faster at it. If you want to make bolt guns, toss in a South Bend 10L lathe (which are increasingly difficult to find) for another $2K (add more for tooling) and you can do things like barrel receivers, turn barrels, etc.
A home gunsmith who is willing to make a bunch of his own tooling could get going for about $10K and start making himself a regular arsenal.
What — you don’t like holes in your vise?
Yeah, but I think the tricky part is going to be rifling the barrels.
The other oversimplification I noted with that scenario is that a receiver isn’t going to be able to be cut in a single setup. Now if the vendor designs jigs for all the setups, and permanently attaches them to the bed so their location is pre dialed in, that will go a long ways towards making it reasonably idiot proof, but still.
This is why I said in my original post that somebody could create the software once, and sell usage of it.
In other words, somebody sets up a shop where a private person could rent use of the machine and rent use of the software that would let the machine turn a block of specified size into, say, an AR-15 lower receiver.
The user then inserts the block, starts the program, lets it run, and takes away the milled receiver. As long as its him putting the block on himself, positioning it on the machine, and hitting start, then he's made it himself.
Now someone has to start a safe starage place in Wyoming where one can buy use the then store your wyoming firearm until the next time you vist there.
I presume you're referring to Gov. Dave Freudenthal(D)??? Apparently serving his second and last term as guv so he can say just about anything he wants whether it is reflective of the good folks of Wyoming or not.
bttt
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.