South Dakota bill would require all citizens to buy a firearm

J

jimpeel

New member
It seems that the SD legislature is turning the tables on Obamacare. If the feds can require a citizen to buy one product, why can a state not require them to buy another? At least firearms are mentioned in the BoR.

CCRKBA is supporting this legislation and the release from CCRKBA is included below.

CBS News covered this story.

SOURCE

February 1, 2011 1:27 PM
Bill Introduced in South Dakota Would Require All Citizens to Buy a Gun
Posted by Brian Montopoli

A group of South Dakota lawmakers have introduced a bill mandating that every citizen in their state over the age of 21 purchase a firearm, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports.

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The Argus Leader story

Rep. Hal Wick, R-Sioux Falls, is sponsoring the bill and knows it will be killed. But he said he is introducing it to prove a point that the federal health care reform mandate passed last year is unconstitutional.

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CCRKBA News Release

BELLEVUE, WA – The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today said a proposal before the South Dakota Legislature that would require all adults in the state to buy a gun “should make perfect sense to anybody who supports Obamacare.”

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While I understand the point they are trying to make (and it is a good one), I don't see it going far. The healthcare law was just ruled unconstitutional due to the individual mandate. I bet that will be upheld 5-4 by the Supreme Court. That will set a Federal level precedent that will make SD's bill null and void. It's all show to make points that need to be made, but I think it might have been overkill considering the most likely outcome.
 
The bill is simply making a point. They have expressed that they see it going nowhere.

It would be no different if Michigan hoisted a bill that every citizen in the state buy an automobile; or Florida requiring that every citizen buy 10 pounds of oranges per week; or Wisconsin requiring every citizen to buy 5 pounds of cheese per week; or Vermont requiring every citizen to buy a gallon of maple syrup every month.

The idea that the Commerce Clause allows the government, any government, to require citizen participation in commercial purchases is ludicrous.

Hopefully, you are correct and the SCotUS will uphold the unconstitutionality of the individual mandate.
 
Remember Kennesaw GA?

A few decades back, Kennesaw GA passed an ordnance requiring each household to have a gun. Part of it was a political statement to balance Morton Grove IL's recent banning of handguns. Part of it was just basic common sense.

The was an out clause. If you had religious objections, you didn't have to have a gun in the house.

Crime in Kennesaw dropped drastically.


Obamacare doesn't give us any out clause. To me, that's the main reason it fails Constitutional muster. There are lots of bad laws that are constitutional. The health care law isn't one of them. Its just a bad law.
 
Not too keen on this...

... although I can appreciate the symbolism, and in fact I used to live in Kennesaw. (Cool town.)

But passing this sort of bill has at least a couple of unwanted consequences:

First, those who supported Obamacare will simply call us "right-wing" gun owners a bunch of hypocrites, who are only against Federal mandates when it suits us. (right-wing is in quotes, because that's a common perception of gun owners, but not mine - I have friends who are lefty gun owners, too.) Of all the things I dislike in people (and it seems most Americans agree with me on this), hypocrisy is right up at the top of the list.

Second, it will tie up South Dakota's legislature's time, and most likely at least some money (cost of printing, if nothing else) to pass a purely symbolic, impossible to enforce piece of legislation at a time when the economy is down, and the public already thinks government is financially wasteful and generally out of touch.

So I think the negative aspects outweight the clever symbolism, even if I do understand the emotional motivations behind such a bill.
 
Well said, Mleake. I couldn't agree more. I, too, also have lefty gun owners as friends and co-workers, so I also know what you mean about the "right-wing" stereotype.
 
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