(01-08-2013 01:18 PM)72ptheriot Wrote: Would it be crazy to consider letting the States decide? If one state want tougher gun laws then so be it. If you are from that state you can't buy a gun in another state. People could decide to live where they are comfortable. I know some people don't have a choice with work and family but just a thought. We have a different laws from state to state already.
We are one nation, not 50 nations. In our national Constitution we have a 2nd amendment that should be used to govern across the entire nation not 50 different ways for each of the 50 states. Constitutionally it is not left to the states to decide this issue.
The 10th Amendment reads:
Quote: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.
In so far as the 2nd Amendment stipulates that a "well regulated militia" is necessary for the security of the nation. You will notice that it makes no mention of a militia being necessary to protect the security of the individual states. The National Guard is officially an arm of the states and is considered a regulated militia. They exist, however, at the direction of the national government and are subject to call up "to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasion."
No state may issue laws that would conflict with these aspects of the Constitution that give that authority over the militias and the arms necessary for them specifically to the national government.
As SnS also noted, there is the factor of interstate commerce to consider. Mayor Bloomberg of NYC has stated often (and the statistics of gun violence in his city back him up) that the primary source of illegal guns being used in crime in his city came from out of state where they were purchased legally and then transported across state lines into NY.
New York cannot stop the sales of guns in other states. They also cannot set up check points such as we have in our ports to check for illegal cargo entering the state. Interstate commerce is regulated by the federal government and therefore only federal laws and enforcement agencies can prohibit such gun trafficking in the absence of strong federal laws regulating the sales of guns uniformly in all states.
It is up to Congress to pass tough laws regarding the regulation, sales and transport of guns and it is up to SCOTUS to definitively rule to make clear that the 2nd Amendment does not give carte blanche to individuals to own anykind of weapon or in any number that they wish.
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