Free Republic

The Louisiana legislature is in the process of strengthening the current state preemption law regarding weapons and the right to keep and bear arms. Local governments seeking to push gun control have been clever about finding ways to restrict people’s right to keep and bear arms in ways not foreseen by previous preemption laws. For example, in Iowa, the Dubuque City Council voted to create a zoning ordinance to prohibit otherwise legitimate gun sales. In Montana, the city government of Missoula, dominated by the University of Montana, voted to require government approval of all firearm sales in the city. In...

The Florida Supreme Court has upheld a law that forbids local governments from restricting sales of guns and ammunition beyond state law. In a 4-1 ruling, the court said local officials could face stiff penalties if they try to enforce the restrictions that go beyond the Florida law. Florida passed a law in 1987 the stated local cities and counties could not have restrictions on guns that were more restrictive than the state's, law. "It is not a core municipal function to occupy an area that the Legislature has preempted, and local governments have no lawful discretion or authority to...

The City of Columbus, Ohio, sued a Franklin County Court of Common Pleas judge in Columbus, in the Supreme Court of Ohio, to obtain an injunction against Ohio preemption law, claiming the law violates the Ohio Constitution. The preemption law was passed in December of 2018, overriding a veto by Ohio Governor Kasich.Here is a link to the law in question, Ohio R.C. 9.68(A). Here is the part of the law dealing with commercial purposes: (D) This section does not apply to either of the following:(1) A zoning ordinance that regulates or prohibits the commercial sale of knives, firearms, firearm...

U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- Governor Tom Wolf has vetoed Pennsylvania Bill HB 979 on 4 February 2022.The bill would have imposed penalties on Pennsylvania municipalities that violate Pennsylvania law. HB 979 passed the Pennsylvania House with 124 to 79 votes on June 8th, 2021. It passed the Pennsylvania Senate on January 25, 2022, with 32 to 17 votes.From newsfromthestates.com:As promised, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf has vetoed a Republican-penned bill that would punish municipalities from enacting firearm ordinances stricter than Pennsylvania law.The legislation, authored by state Rep. Matthew Dowling, R-Fayette, that would make towns and cities responsible for all legal costs in successful...

In the 2020 general election in Montana, the referendum on firearms preemption, LR-130, passed with 51% of the vote, 296,820 to 285,942. It was close. Montana went for President Trump with 57% of the vote. On LR-130, Bloomberg and surrogates outspent Second Amendment supporters $1,409,439.11 to $50,493.06, or 28 to 1. The massive spending wasn't enough to keep the referendum from passing. Montana voters have patched “loopholes” in the law which allowed local jurisdictions to pass ordinances infringing on the right to keep and bear arms.Screenshot from electionresults.mt.gov, cropped and scaled by Dean Weingarten. Gary Marbut has been the driving...

The City of Philadelphia has announced legal action against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania over gun safety laws. City officials, including city council leaders and Mayor Jim Kenney announced the lawsuit during a press conference Wednesday afternoon. ---snip--- The lawsuit comes as gun violence reaches historic levels in the city with shooting incidents up 57% over 2019, and the number of shooting victims up 47%. The city also says the number of shooting victims under the age of 18 is up 67% over 2019.

On June third, the first day the Iowa legislature re-convened after the Wuhan Flu shutdown, the Iowa Senate passed a comprehensive gun law reform bill that restricts political subdivisions of Iowa government from infringing on Second Amendment rights. HF 2502 passed  32-17. There are 34 Republicans in the Iowa Senate. Second Amendment supporters have been attempting to pass the bill for several years.HF 2502 had passed in the Iowa House on 27 February 2020, on a 52 to 44 vote, with 4 members not voting. There are 56 Republicans and 44 Democrats in the Iowa House. The bill was earlier...

West Virginia has a strong preemption statute to ensure the state has reasonably uniform laws about the carry and use of firearms by individuals, throughout the state. It is §8-12-5a: Limitations upon municipalities' power to restrict the purchase, possession, transfer, ownership, carrying, transport, sale and storage of certain weapons and ammunition.§8-12-5a does a pretty good job of limiting the power of local governments to infringe on the right to keep and bear firearms. But the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution is not limited to firearms. As affirmed in the Heller decision, the Second Amendment covers all bearable arms....

TALLAHASSEE — In light of Key West banning the sale of sunscreens that contain chemicals believed to harm coral reefs, Florida lawmakers are fast-tracking proposals that would undo the local regulation. Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, said Monday that Key West is sending “mixed signals” to people about the importance of sunscreen and that his bill is meant to send a clear message to the “country and the world” that the use of sunscreen is encouraged in the Sunshine State. “Unfortunately, with all of the wonderful things that come with our beaches and our sunshine, we also rank second in...

On April 23rd, the Nevada Assembly voted to pass Assembly Bill 291 and Assembly Bill 153. AB 291 and AB 153 have been transmitted to the Senate and assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee for further consideration.Assembly Bill 291, introduced by Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui (D-41), is omnibus anti-gun legislation that is a threat to both law-abiding gun owners residing in Nevada and those who are visiting. Most notably, AB 291 would: Allow Local Gun Control Laws: Nevada's firearm preemption laws have been on the books since 1989 and have been improved over the years to ensure consistency in firearm laws...

A Franklin County judge in Ohio has ruled the Columbus City Council ban on bump-stocks is invalid under Ohio law. The ban was passed in May of 2018, as part of an series of infringements aimed at gun owners. From ab6onyourside.com: COLUMBUS, Ohio — A Franklin County Judge has ruled Columbus' bump-stock ban as unconstitutional.The ban was passed by the Columbus City Council in May. The ban was part of a series of four ordinances aimed at reducing gun violence. On Friday, Franklin County Judge David E. Cain ruled the bump-stock ban violates state law and the city cannot...

  The X-37B spaceplane on the runway at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center after landing May 7. Some argue it’s time for the Air Force to start planning to use its capabilities to preempt hostile actions in space. (credit: US Air Force) It’s time for the US Air Force to prepare for preemption in space by Edward G. Ferguson and John J. KleinMonday, May 8, 2017 The views expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the US Air Force, Falcon Research or those of the United States government. A version...

The Pennsylvania legislature is aiming to enforce their strong firearms preemption law. A similar enforcement law was enacted in 2014, but was struck down in 2016. The state Supreme Court ruled that the legislature had violated the state constitutional requirement for "single issue" statutes when the bill was passed. On April 19, 2017, a replacement bill passed the House Judiciary committee by a 20-5 vote. As with most states, Pennsylvania has a strong firearms preemption law. The statute has been on the books for over three decades. The preemption law requires that virtually all firearms law in Pennsylvania be...

Governor Pete Rickets of Nebraska Nebraska's preemption bill has moved forward in a significant way.  Bill LB68 was voted on by the Government Military, and Veterans Affairs committed and passed 33 - 11.  The Nebraska legislature is unicameral, with only 49 members. The committee vote was a vote of the whole legislature, and makes it very likely the legislation will pass.  The Governor, Pete Rickets, claims to strongly support the Second Amendment. His signature seems probable. From theindependent.com: The Legislature voted 32-12 to advance a bill that would require state law to override municipal gun regulations in Nebraska. Supporters...

Mayor Gillum Image from Youtube In Florida, the State government has chosen to protect residents rights to keep and bear arms by restricting the actions that local governments can take.  This is call preemption, and it means that only the State can pass laws restriction the carry, possession, and use of guns.  It insures that the laws regarding guns and firearms use are uniform across the state. People exercising their right to keep and carry weapons will not have to guess about whether they are violating an obscure local ordinance when they cross some unmarked local boundary. Every state...

Nearly all states have some sort of law preempting local gun laws.  Preemption means that the State preserves to itself certain areas of the law.  Firearms are a natural for this protection; most   Most are comprehensive; a few are minimal.   Massachusetts has very limited state pre-emption.  From dovekopel.com: Massachusetts preempts all gun licensing (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 140 sect. 129B), and the state constitution forbids local laws inconsistent with state law; for this reason, Boston's Dec. 1989 ban on "assault weapons" was not allowed to go into effect until the state legislature later passed a bill authorizing...

The Wisconsin Assembly has passed a knife law pre-emption and reform bill by voice vote.  The bill, AB 124, has a companion bill, SB 102 that is expected to be voted on in the Senate in the next few days.   Here is an analysis of AB 124, from wisconsin.gov: This substitute amendment eliminates the prohibition against possessing, purchasing, or selling a switchblade knife. This substitute amendment treats knives in the same manner as current law treats firearms by prohibiting local governments from regulating the sale, purchase, or possession of knives and prohibiting charging a person with disorderly conduct for...

Nevada Governor Sandoval signed significant gun reform bills into law in the last few days. SB 136 was signed on May 27th, 2015.   It protects the rights of archery hunters to carry a handgun for protection. SB 175  was signed on 1 June.  It makes gun laws uniform across the state of Nevada with a strong preemption statute.   The statute eliminates a maze of local government ordinances and regulations.  One of the chief of these is the long standing requirement for handgun registrations in Clark County.   The registration system was put into place as Las Vegas came under...

Good and bad news for Texas knife law reform.  The good news is that HB 905 is headed to Governor Abbott's desk.  If only one knife reform bill is to pass this session, this is the preferred one.   The bad news is that knife decriminalization seems to have been killed. From texasguntalk.com: In a spot of good news, HB 905 (knife preemption) is on its way to Governor Abbott. Unfortunately, HB 3884 (decriminalization of "illegal" knives) was killed after Senator Whitmire double-crossed us. He agreed to sponsor HB 3884 and hear it in his committee, in order to get...

There are two bills in the Texas legislature to reform the State's knife laws.  HB 905 adds knives to the state preemption law for firearms.  This will prevent people from unknowingly becoming criminals for local ordinances that they are unaware of.   The local ordiances are infamous for being selectively enforced. The second bill, HB 3884 decriminalizes arms that are clearly protected under the second amendment, highly desired knives such as Bowie knives, daggers, swords, and spears.  Strange as it may seem, these knives were made illegal to carry during reconstruction in the 1870's, and the law is still on...