Alaska House passes bill challenging future federal gun restrictions
Published: February 25, 2013 Updated 19 hours ago
By LISA DEMER — ldemer@adn.com
JUNEAU -- In a chamber dotted with female legislators wearing new camo scarves, the state House on Monday passed a gun measure that is wildly popular among the GOP-controlled Legislature even though it raises serious constitutional issues.
House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, is the prime sponsor of House Bill 69, which passed 31-5 on Monday after a lengthy and impassioned debate.
It declares that guns and ammunition possessed by Alaskans are exempt from federal gun laws. It also subjects federal agents to felony charges if they try to enforce any future federal ban on semi-automatic weapons or ammunition or enforce any new federal requirement for gun registration.
A legal opinion from a legislative lawyer said the measure likely is unconstitutional. When federal and state laws conflict, the U.S. Constitution declares that federal law is supreme, legislative counsel Kathleen Strasbaugh wrote in a Jan. 30 memorandum.
Republicans said they are willing to let the courts sort out the issues. They said that they must stand up for Second Amendment gun rights and won't bow down to the federal government on this. A number said they heard from constituents who back the bill.
Some Democrats argued that the measure puts Alaskans at risk of criminal prosecution if they ignore federal gun laws. While the bill allows the state to defend Alaskans charged with violating a federal gun law, there's no guarantee of that help or any sign the federal government will back off.
Alaska is joining other states angrily pushing back against proposed new federal gun restrictions in the wake of the December school massacre in Connecticut.
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a snippet from the sane democrats:
The penalty for violating an earlier, now-lapsed federal ban on semi-automatic assault rifles was up to five years in prison, Rep. Les Gara, D-Anchorage, reminded his fellow House members. And interfering with a federal officer performing his or her duties could lead to a year in jail, or even longer.
"I'm not comfortable telling my constituents to go ahead and do something that'll land them in jail just because I don't like the way the federal government regulates things," Gara said.
Rep. Max Gruenberg, D-Anchorage, said the measure was unconstitutional and unenforceable, and it distracts the Legislature from more important measures, including a rewrite of state oil tax law.
A fellow Anchorage Democrat, Andy Josephson, said he thought the measure was "secessionist talk." Maybe the House is just trying to make a statement, he said, but it's the Legislature's job to cull out what can't work. He's newly elected and only took the oath of office 41 days earlier. Now he's being asked to violate his vow to uphold the constitution, he said.
Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2013/02/25/2802136/alaska-house-passes-bill-challenging.html#storylink=cpy
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