I saw an article about what appeared to be another example of a state bill nullifying federal gun control laws. When I read the actual legislation though, I saw much more.
West Virginia House Bill 4168 (WV HB4168) is titled ” “. Hence my initial belief this was more nullification legislation. Don’t get me wrong, I love good state nullification legislation, but as I read the actual text of the bill the educational aspects truly got my attention.
WV HB4168 would amend the Code of West Virginia by adding a new article §15-15. While sections 2-6 are interesting, it was section 1 that I find to be an excellent teaching tool for other states. Just as our Founding Fathers understood the need to explain what they were doing in the Declaration of Independence, the Legislature of West Virginia explains why this legislation is necessary.
§15-15-1. Legislative purpose and authority.
The Legislature finds and declares that:
(1) The West Virginia Legislature is firmly resolved to support and defend the United States Constitution against every aggression, whether foreign or domestic, and is duty bound to oppose every infraction of those principles that constitute the basis of the union of the states because only a faithful observance of those principles can secure the nation’s existence and the public happiness;
Article 15-15-1 proposed in WV HB4168
This bill states that the West Virginia Legislature is not only resolved to support and defend the United States Constitution, but says it’s duty bound to oppose every infraction of it. Any aggression against the Constitution, whether from foreign or domestic actors, is an attack on the rights and liberty of the American people. Each and every state has a duty to protect the rights and liberties of their citizens. According to the Declaration of Independence that is their very purpose:
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,
Declaration of Independence
This bill not only recognizes the duty of the West Virginia Legislature to protect their citizens’ rights, but the fact that failure to do so endangers the union itself.
(2) Acting through the United States Constitution, the people of the several states created the federal government to be their agent in the exercise of a few defined powers, while reserving to the state governments the power to legislate on matters that concern the lives, liberties, and properties of citizens in the ordinary course of affairs;
Article 15-15-2 proposed in WV HB4168
Actually, it was the people acting through their states that established the United States Constitution. And it was that Constitution that created what we now call the federal government and established its powers. We have lost the idea that the powers delegated to the federal government are few and defined while the powers reserved to the states are numerous and undefined. The powers delegated in the U.S. Constitution focus on foreign affairs, not domestic, which means it’s not the federal government that should be focused on domestic affairs, but the states.
(3) The limitation of the federal government’s power is affirmed under the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which defines the total scope of federal power as being that which has been delegated by the people of the several states to the federal government, and all power not delegated to the federal government in the United States Constitution is reserved to the states respectively, or to the people themselves;
Article 15-15-3 proposed in WV HB4168
As much as I would like those who work in Washington, D.C. to learn this truth, I think it’s more important that the American people do. Washington’s powers are legally limited, yet because we act like they can do whatever they want, their power has grown far beyond their commission. This has been aided and abetted by the slavish devotion to the idea that a creation of the Constitution, namely the supreme Court, is the sole arbiter of that document. That is not a power granted to it by the document, but one drummed into the head of each and every American until the lie repeated often enough is now considered truth.
(4) Whenever the federal government assumes powers that the people did not grant it in the United States Constitution, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force;
Article 15-15-4 proposed in WV HB4168
One of my most often utilized quotes is from Alexander Hamilton in Federalist #78, where he not only makes the exact same statement, but expands on it:
There is no position which depends on clearer principles, than that every act of a delegated authority, contrary to the tenor of the commission under which it is exercised, is void. No legislative act, therefore, contrary to the Constitution, can be valid. To deny this, would be to affirm, that the deputy is greater than his principal; that the servant is above his master; that the representatives of the people are superior to the people themselves; that men acting by virtue of powers, may do not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they forbid.
Alexander Hamilton – Federalist #78
What would life in America look like if the people recognized how much of what the federal government does is void? How would your life be different if those who worked in Washington, D.C. acted like your deputies or servants rather than your masters? Imagine if the people, though the simple language of the Constitution, were allowed to overrule the acts of their elected representatives? I can only dream of a day when those we hire to work in our name abide by the laws we have established over them.
(5) The several states of the United States of America respect the proper role of the federal government, but reject the proposition that such respect requires unlimited submission. If the government, created by a compact among the states, was the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers granted to it by the states through the United States Constitution, the federal government’s discretion, and not the United States Constitution, would necessarily become the measure of those powers. To the contrary, as in all other cases of compacts among powers having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself as to whether infractions of the compact have occurred, as well as to determine the mode and measure of redress. Although the several states have granted supremacy to laws and treaties made under the powers granted in the United States Constitution, such supremacy does not extend to various federal statutes, executive orders, administrative orders, court orders, rules, regulations, or other actions which restrict or prohibit the manufacture, ownership, and use of firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition exclusively within the borders of West Virginia. All such statutes, executive orders, administrative orders, court orders, rules, regulations, and other actions exceed the powers granted to the federal government except to the extent they are necessary and proper for governing and regulating land and naval forces of the United States or for organizing, arming, and disciplining of militia forces actively employed in the service of the armed forces of the United States;
Article 15-15-5 proposed in WV HB4168
Yes, the states and their citizens should respect the powers delegated to the United States, but that does not makes us slaves or serfs, submitting to every whim that comes out of Washington, D.C. We are the rightful masters of the federal government, not the other way around. The very idea that the federal government had the power to judge its own authority is as ludicrous as allowing one team to hire the referees for a game. The Constitution is quite clear: Only laws made pursuant to the Constitution or treaties made within the powers delegated to the United States are law.
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land;
U.S. Constitution, Article VI, Clause 2
In no other situation is the creation of a compact the judge of it. To do so would be both foolish and reckless, creating an entity with no outside control. Whether treaty, contract, pact, or agreement, those who establish it are its judges. Since it’s the states who ratified the Constitution they, not the federal government, are its judges. And while they have granted laws made under the powers of the Constitution supremacy, that authority is limited by the self-same Constitution. Any and all federal laws made outside of the powers delegated to it by the Constitution are therefore null and void, and should be ignored by all states. Since the West Virginia Legislature has no authority to dictate to another state how it is to act, they instead identify a series of federal actions that exceed the powers delegated to them by the Constitution.
(6) The people of the several states have given Congress the power “to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states”, but “regulating commerce” does not include the power to limit citizens’ right to keep and bear arms in defense of their families, neighbors, persons, or property, or to dictate as to what sort of arms and accessories law-abiding West Virginians may buy, sell, exchange, or otherwise possess within the borders of this state;
Article 15-15-6 proposed in WV HB4168
Yes, the people have given Congress the authority to regulate commerce with foreign nations and between the states.
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
Article I, Section 8, Clause 3
They have also prohibited any government from infringing on the people’s right to both keep and bear arms.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
U.S Constitution, Amendment II
This is the proof that the federal actions listed in Section 5 exceeded the powers delegated to the federal government.
(7) The people of the several states have also granted Congress the power “to lay and collect taxes, duties, imports, and excises, to pay the debts, and provide for the common defense and general welfare of United States” and “to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers vested by the United States Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or office thereof.” These constitutional provisions merely identify the means by which the federal government may execute its limited powers and shall not to be so construed to grant unlimited power because to do so would be to destroy the carefully constructed equilibrium between the federal and state governments. Consequently, the Legislature rejects any claim that the taxing and spending powers of Congress can be used to diminish in any way the right of the people to keep and bear arms;
Article 15-15-7 proposed in WV HB4168
Yes, the people have delegated to Congress the power to lay and collect taxes, but only for the purposes specified, that being the paying of debts, the common defense, and the general welfare of the union (not the states or the people). The people have also granted Congress the sole power to make laws, but only those which are necessary and proper for executing the powers delegated to the union. The idea that Congress can pass any law it wants, collect taxes in any manner it wants, for any purpose it wants is ludicrous. It would violate every tenant upholding the Constitution, the separation of powers, and the limited federal government it created.
(8) The people of West Virginia have vested the Legislature with the authority to regulate the manufacture, possession, exchange, and use of firearms within the borders of this state, subject only to the limits imposed by the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and by Article III, Section 22 of the West Virginia Constitution;
Article 15-15-7 proposed in WV HB4168
The people of West Virginia vested their own Legislature with the authority to regulate firearms within the limits established by both their state and the U.S. Constitution. So this legislation listed federal actions that either have, or would have, infringed on the people’s right to keep and bear arms. It also states that it’s the affirmative duty of both the courts and law enforcement to protect the rights of law-abiding citizens. So it prohibits any public officer or employee of the state or its subdivisions from enforcing any federal act that infringes on the people’s right to keep and bear arms. It also allows the people of West Virginia to sue an entity or person who violates this legislation, and someone found violating it will be permanently ineligible to serve in any law enforcement capacity.
Conclusion
I love not only what the Legislature of West Virginia is trying to do with this bill, but also the justification they give for it. I hope this legislation becomes law. If it does, I hope the law enforcement and government of West Virginia will stand by it when it’s inevitably challenged. Most importantly, I hope the people of West Virginia will stand by the representatives who vote for this legislation, and those government officials who will enforce it. Hopefully, they have learned the lesson the citizens of Kansas had to learn the hard way. (Kansas Bill to Nullify Red Flag Laws)
