Alabama: Gun Control Nullification Bill, Do-Or-Die

Alabama SB93 , the Second Amendment Preservation Act, passed out of the Senate is currently in House Committee on Constitution, Campaigns, and Elections. The clock is ticking for the Alabama Legislature Session. It ends in days!

Act NOW if you want to protect the right to keep and bear arms in Alabama. Please contact the Chairman and ask him to schedule SB93. Don’t let the aides, secretaries, or even the chairman himself ignore this bill since other firearm bills that have passed. Those other bills are important, however, they do nothing compared to SB93 when it comes to federal gun laws that infringe on the right to bear arms!

Please email and call the committee chair and all the committee members. Get them to schedule SB93 for a vote next week or SB93 is dead.

ACTION ITEMS for SB93

1. Contact the Committee Chairman. Politely request that he schedule a hearing for SB93 and encourage him to vote YES on the bill. This bill is not another redundant firearms bill, this bill protects the right to bear arms from federal infringements.

Representative Randy Davis (334) 242-7724 [email protected]  

2. Contact all the other members of the Committee. Strongly, but respectfully, let each of them know you want them to vote YES on SB93!  

Rep. Randy Wood (334) 242 – 7700

Rep. Richard Lindsey (334) 242-7713 [email protected]

Rep. Paul Beckman (334) 242-7499 [email protected]

Rep. Paul DeMarco (334) 242-7667 [email protected] 

Rep. Juandalynn (334) 242-7684 [email protected]

Rep. John Merrill (334) 242-7554 [email protected]

Rep. Barry Moore (334) 242-7773 [email protected]

Rep. Demetrius Newton (334) 242-7546

3. Get active on Facebook.  Join the 2nd Amendment Alabama group and stay active in support of SB93 and other legislation coming forward. Even if this bill does not get heard, this Facebook group is the means to form grassroots support to act locally and in the state.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2ndAmendmentAlabama/

4. Share this information widely.  Please pass this along to your friends and family.  Also share it with any and all grassroots groups you’re in contact with around the state.  Please encourage them to email this information to their members and supporters.

5. Nullify Locally!  Introduce model legislation to protect the right to bear arms into your city, town, and county. Click below to download model legislation for your local community.

Model Legislation: http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/legislation/2nd-amendment-preservation-act/

ADDITIONAL READING AND RESOURCES

The 2nd Amendment Preservation Act IS constitutional

How to Respond to Unlawful Orders

The 2nd Amendment didn’t “grant” rights

MORE INFORMATION ON SB93

Senate Bill 93 (SB93) declares that “All federal acts, laws, orders, rules, or regulations regarding firearms are a violation of the Second Amendment,”  and therefore, “are invalid in this state, shall not be recognized by this state, are specifically rejected by this state, and shall be considered null and void and of no effect in this state.”

If passed into law, the immediate effect would be that no state or local agent, employee, or asset would be authorized for us in the enforcement (or assistance in the enforcement) of any federal gun control measures – past, present, or future.

Bill Sponsor Senator Paul Sanford affirmed as much during debate on the bill.  He said, ”They’re not going to use our law enforcement officials to enforce their law that is unconstitutional.”

This would make a HUGE dent in any federal effort to further restrict the right to keep and bear arms in Alabama – and would be a big step forward for gun rights supporters there. As Judge Andrew Napolitano has said recently, such widespread noncompliance can make a federal law “nearly impossible to enforce” (video here).   And in those limited situations where enforcement does occur, Rosa Parks has taught us all the power of “NO!”  Passage of SB93 would mark the beginning of the end of federal gun control in Alabama.

When challenged on the Constitution’s supremacy clause, Sanford held his ground, ”If it’s unconstitutional then the supremacy clause never comes into effect.”

The so-called “supremacy clause” of the Constitution says that federal laws made “in pursuance” of the Constitution are supreme:

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.  (emphasis added)

There is absolutely ZERO serious dispute about the fact that the federal government cannot “commandeer” the states to carry out its laws.  None. Even the Supreme Court has affirmed this multiple times.

In the 1992 case, New York v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled that Congress couldn’t require states to enact specified waste disposal regulations.

In the 1997 case, Printz v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government could not command state law enforcement authorities to conduct background checks on prospective handgun purchasers.

In the 2012 case, National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, the Supreme Court ruled that a significant expansion of Medicaid was not a valid exercise of Congress’s spending power, as it would coerce states to either accept the expansion or risk losing existing Medicaid funding.

In each of these cases, the Supreme Court made is quite clear that their opinion is that the federal government cannot require the states to act, or even coerce them to act through a threat to lose funding.  Their opinion is correct.  If the feds pass a law, they can sure try to enforce it if they want.  But the states absolutely do NOT have to help them in any way.

In case the full state and local noncompliance doesn’t work as intended, SB93 includes a mechanism to take additional steps in the future.  It reads, “The Legislature shall adopt and enact any and all measures as may be necessary to prevent the enforcement of any federal acts, laws, orders, rules, or regulations in violation of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

The path such measures could take will only be determined over time – and through the representatives of the People of Alabama.