Wyoming Firearms Freedom Act To Be Signed By Governor

The Billings Gazette reports that legislation "asserting that firearms made, sold and kept only in Wyoming are exempt from all federal gun laws is set to become law after it easily cleared the Wyoming Legislature on Wednesday. Supporters say the bill is mainly a symbolic shove against the federal government, and it remains to be seen whether the fight will carry over to the courts or even to Wyoming streets. The Wyoming Firearms Freedom Act passed the state Senate without objection on Wednesday. Gov. Dave Freudenthal has indicated that he will sign the bill into law. Two other states, Tennessee and Montana, have enacted similar laws. Wyoming’s Firearms Freedom Act, though, is harsher than those laws, as it states that any state or federal official who tries to enforce any federal gun law on a firearms made and sold in Wyoming could face a $2,000 fine and up to a year in prison. While that might conjure up images of Wyoming sheriffs arresting U.S. marshals who try to enforce federal laws on Wyoming guns, state Rep. Allen Jaggi, R-Lyman, said the bill was mainly intended to be a symbolic assertion of Wyoming residents constitutional rights. 'I think unless we have some overzealous federal officers, this is not a real big deal to them,' said Jaggi, who authored the legislation. 'I’m hoping that nothing really happens except that other states see, ‘Hey they did it — let’s do it. Let’s assert our state rights.’ A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Cheyenne did not return a call seeking comment late Wednesday afternoon. Ironically, the legislation also toughens state gun laws: it bans convicted felons, mental patients and people younger than 21 from being able to buy Wyoming-made firearms."

As I have pointed out previously, though the Act's title implies that it is only a bill increasing the right to own firearms, if passed this bill would amount to much more than that. It is specifically meant to bolster the Second Amendment at the same time as it counters the interpretation of the Commerce Clause (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution) by the Supreme Court that for the most part presumptively allows Congress to pass all sorts of federal legislation. The Wyoming Act explains in its own legislative findings that the "tenth amendment to the United States constitution guarantees to the states and their people all powers not granted to the federal government elsewhere the constitution and reserves to the state and the people of Wyoming certain powers as they were understood at the time that Wyoming was admitted to statehood in 1890... The ninth amendment to the United States constitution guarantees to the people rights not granted in the constitution and reserves to the people of Wyoming certain rights, as they were understood at the time Wyoming was admitted to statehood in 1890... The regulation of intrastate commerce is vested in the states under the ninth and tenth amendments to the United States constitution, particularly if not expressly preempted by federal law pursuant to article 1, section 8 of the United States constitution. The United States congress has not expressly preempted state regulation of intrastate commerce pertaining to the manufacture on an intrastate basis of firearms, firearms accessories and ammunition." Finally, it states that the "second amendment to the United States constitution reserves to the people the right to keep and bear arms as that right was understood at the time the original states ratified the bill of rights to the United States constitution, and the guaranty of the right is a matter of contract between the state and people of Wyoming and the United States as of the time the Act of Admission was agreed upon and adopted by Wyoming and the United States in 1889." Tweet