Gun proposal would defy feds
'Firearms Freedom Act'

The federal government has no right to regulate guns made, sold and used within Utah, state lawmakers at a committee hearing decided Wednesday.

The Legislature's Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Interim Committee advanced a bill that its sponsor, Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, calls the "Firearms Freedom Act." If upheld in federal courts -- a big if, considering past rulings on states' rights -- Utahns purchasing Utah-made guns would not face federal requirements such as background checks.

"I love the idea of the firearms," said Sen. Allen Christensen, R-North Ogden, "and I love to swipe at the federal government on this one."

The bill taps the flip side of the Constitution's commerce clause, which the federal government used to impose civil-rights legislation, among other rules, on companies doing business across state lines. Modeled after a measure that Montana lawmakers passed this year, it asserts that the federal government lacks enforcement powers when no interstate commerce exists.

The bill would maintain a federal prohibition on machine guns, but otherwise would leave regulation of locally produced guns to the state. Perry Dayton, the senator's son and former intern who helped present the bill Wednesday, said there are a few gun makers in Utah, but "nothing on a real large scale."

As much as protecting Second Amendment rights to arms, Sen. Dayton said, her bill calls on the 10th Amendment's guarantee that
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states may exercise powers not prohibited by the Constitution.

Gun-control advocates say such laws would prove meaningless because federal authority was settled by the Supreme Court decades ago.

"This idea that you can just ignore federal laws is part of what the Civil War was about," Paul Helmke, Washington-based president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said in an interview.

It's odd that backers of states' rights chose gun laws to press their case, Helmke said. There are plenty of education laws they could challenge, for instance, but he said the only rules they might skirt with a gun bill would be background checks to keep felons and the mentally ill from buying guns.

"Do you want felons to have guns?" he said.

Rep. Rebecca Chavez-Houck, D-Salt Lake City, voted against the bill. She recommended Utah wait to see how Montana's law fares in court before inviting its own legal challenges.

"I'd like to have Montana pick up the tab on that one for the time being," she said.

Rep. Phil Riesen, D-Holladay, and Sen. Karen Morgan, D-Cottonwood Heights, joined her in casting dissenting votes.

Dayton said it's important for a groundswell of states to push the matter, possibly leading to a reversal by the Supreme Court.

By Brandon Loomis, The Salt Lake Tribune

Senate committee approves anti-gun left-wing ideologue to head OSHA

David Michaels, a left-wing ideologue who supports junk science and seeks to restrict gun possession, has been approved by the Senate Health Committee to head the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Only two Senators -- both Republicans -- voted against Michaels, who was nominated by President Obama.

The vote occurred with no discussion, and no hearing was even held on his nomination, although hearings have consistently been held on nominees in the past, even for far less controversial picks.

Gun-law expert David Kopel explains how Michaels wants to ban guns in and near workplaces, and could use his position at OSHA to do so, if the political climate shifts in favor of gun control. (Some businessmen in high-crime areas possess guns to protect themselves against armed robbers, and even strict local gun-control laws have generally contained exceptions to allow such businesses to defend themselves).

As the Washington Times noted, "Mr. Michaels also is an anti-gun zealot who has described 'gun violence' as an issue of 'public health' that 'invariably demands more and stronger regulation, not less.' As Walter Olson of the Manhattan Institute explained, by way of warning, on Aug. 15: 'That's by no means irrelevant to the agenda of an agency like OSHA, because once you start viewing private gun ownership as a public health menace, it begins to seem logical to use the powers of government to urge or even require employers to forbid workers from possessing guns on company premises, up to and including parking lots, ostensibly for the protection of co-workers. In addition, OSHA has authority to regulate the working conditions of various job categories associated with firearms use (security guards, hunting guides, etc.) and could in that capacity do much to bring grief to Second Amendment values."

By: Hans Bader, DC Examiner

Council considers gun control resolution

Mayor Peter Trent is not ruling out the possibility that city council may pass a resolution expressing support for the federal government to further tighten gun control legislation.
Last Monday evening during council’s first public meeting since the municipal elections, Trent was asked during question period by Roger Jochym of Lewis Avenue whether Westmount would follow the example of Montreal city council, which plans to pass such a resolution.

Jochym said Westmount should “urge the federal government to further tighten the regulations so that the possibility of guns being used to kill, wound and maim innocent people continues to constantly be reduced, as it has this past 10 years.

“I would suggest this be done to commemorate the life of Anastasia De Sousa,” he added, referring to the 18-year-old De Sousa, who was shot and killed during a shooting rampage at Dawson College three years ago, in which 19 others were injured, some seriously.

Trent said that after the Polytechnique murders in 1989, he became involved with the gun control movement. One of its strongest proponents was Heidi Rathjen, who had been a student at the University of Montreal’s École polytechnique, where 14 women were shot to death.

“I made a number of speeches, wrote a lot of articles and supported her in any way, shape or form," Trent said. "So I’m very much in favour of gun control. As for this particular issue, certainly council has to take a look at it. We are nine people, I’m just one. But my past record has been one of being very strongly in favour of gun control.”

By: Martin C. Barry, The Montreal Express