Rightwing Extremism Afoot in Montana?

The Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer recently signed Montana House Bill 246 into law. This bill exempts Montanans from any gun control laws passed by the Federal government after 1889 (The year Montana joined the Union). It cites the second, ninth and tenth amendments of the U.S. Constitution and the Montana State Constitution as the authority to authorize this exemption. Here is the cogent excerpt:

A personal firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition that is manufactured commercially or privately in Montana and that remains within the borders of Montana is not subject to federal law or federal regulation, including registration, under the authority of congress to regulate interstate commerce. It is declared by the legislature that those items have not traveled in interstate commerce. This section applies to a firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition that is manufactured in Montana from basic materials and that can be manufactured without the inclusion of any significant parts imported from another state. Generic and insignificant parts that have other manufacturing or consumer product applications are not firearms, firearms accessories, or ammunition, and their importation into Montana and incorporation into a firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition manufactured in Montana does not subject the firearm, firearm accessory, or ammunition to federal regulation. It is declared by the legislature that basic materials, such as unmachined steel and unshaped wood, are not firearms, firearms accessories, or ammunition and are not subject to congressional authority to regulate firearms, firearms accessories, and ammunition under interstate commerce as if they were actually firearms, firearms accessories, or ammunition. The authority of congress to regulate interstate commerce in basic materials does not include authority to regulate firearms, firearms accessories, and ammunition made in Montana from those materials. Firearms accessories that are imported into Montana from another state and that are subject to federal regulation as being in interstate commerce do not subject a firearm to federal regulation under interstate commerce because they are attached to or used in conjunction with a firearm in Montana.

This is the latest in a string of challenges to the expanding authority of Washington DC. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out in the courts. This effectively trumps Texas' Governor Rick Perry's recent statement threatening secession from the union... Well until he actually secedes that is.

You know the thing that really puzzles me? Schweitzer is a democrat... What the hell is up with that? A lib actually standing up to the sainted Obama and supporting an individual's right to keep and bear... anybody seen a weather report in hell lately?

Here's a Schweitzer quote:

“I like big guns, I like little guns, I like pistols, I like rifles, and I would like to buy a gun that’s made in Montana.”

Word is, a flight of a squadron of pigs was recently witnessed in Helena.

I guess this moves the democrat Brian Schweitzer officially and solidly into the right-wing extremist column.

Here is a local news article about the bill.