In ground breaking, and sure to be challenged in the Supreme Court defiance, Montana's new legislation exempts all firearms and ammunition made in Montana from Federal legislation.
The Federal government has long regulated firearms via authority granted to it in the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, on the premise that any gun or related device is automatically subject to Federal regulation because it may be involved in interstate commerce. These new laws would negate that, by protecting guns and related goods which do not cross state lines.
By exempting from such regulation any eligible gun or related device manufactured within its borders and which stays within those borders, the states are in essence denying the Federal government a fictional authority which it has long asserted. More importantly, the states are creating law-based protection against the very-real threat of a Federal gun registration/confiscation scheme.
Many predict that this new movement will lead to an epic legal battle over the Tenth Amendment "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people". If so, an Obama-weighted Supreme Court may end up deciding the issue.
Some are eager for a test case, hoping that some brave soul in Montana will notify the Feds that he or she is going to begin manufacture and sale of "Made in Montana" guns under this new law and without Federal oversight. The expectation is of immediate Federal prosecution of that individual, with the resulting court decision possibly being a major deciding factor in the feasibility and future of such laws.
It seems worthwhile for us to urge our state legislators to consider similar legislation. In fact, Utah and Texas are already presenting potentially similar legislation. Anything that preserves civil rights while taking some power out of the hands of the Federal government has got to be a good thing. Better wording than Montana used for any section that omits fully-automatic guns from the law would be a good idea for any such law, though - there's no reason shotguns shouldn't also be covered by the protection these laws provide.
I believe that this could be the first shots fired in a fight that may well determine the future of not only our nation, but our individual and state rights. I also have to think about just how long this civil war will remain civil, because those with power rarely ever give it up voluntarily.
