Utah Must Enact SB.11 (Utah State-made Firearms Protection Act)

The States need to start drawing a line in the sand to defend the 9th and 10th Amendments to the US Constitution. Better yet, the States need to regain the ground they have ceded to the federal government over the past several generations.

SB.11 (Utah State-made Firearms Protection Act) gives Utah an opportunity to help lead the fight against the usurpation of power by the federal government. While SB.11 doesn't go far enough, in my opinion, in defending State and individual rights, it is a long-overdue and essential step in the right direction.

Reportedly, Utah's Governor Herbert thinks this bill is unconstitutional. Yet, Article I Section 10 of the US Constitution lists the specific things that states are prohibited from doing. SB.11 clearly doesn’t do anything prohibited by this section. On the other hand, the Constitution doesn’t grant Congress the power to regulate intrastate commerce (The States have certainly allowed Congress and federal bureaucrats to usurp power over a lot of that). Therefore, under the 10th Amendment, the Utah Legislature has sole authority to regulate commerce that occurs wholly within Utah. SB.11 simply identifies and defends that right for one small class of commodities (In fact, I told my legislators that the legislature should have expanded SB.11 to encompass all intrastate commerce.).

Failure to implement this bill is nothing but signalling resignation and submission to to an all-powerful central government that was never intended or described by the US Constitution.

Failure to enact SB.11 puts Utah on the wrong side in the fight against a bloated and intrusive central government.

Failure of the States to stand and fight for their 9th and 10th Amendment rights indicates acceptance of a role as mere functionaries of the central government rather than their true status as sovereign States.

Recommended book:

How the West Was Lost: The Theft and Usurpation of State's Property Rights