Montana zigs while Obama zags: Fed gun laws challenged

How about a little Monday morning irony to start your day? While President Obama is rewriting the constitution for socialists and mass murderers at Gitmo yearning to breathe free, the great state of Montana -- and several other states -- are challenging federal gun laws.

A new Montana gun law puts the state at the forefront of a national bid to restore states' rights by attacking up to a century of federal court decisions on Washington's power.

Two other states - Alaska and Texas - have had favorable votes on laws similar to Montana's, declaring that guns that stay within the state are none of the feds' business. More than a dozen others are considering such laws, and more-general declarations of state sovereignty have been introduced this year in more than 30 legislatures.

The federal courts may not respond well to these laws in the short term, but backers who acknowledge this say that regardless, they intend for the laws to change the political landscape in the long term. They hope these state laws will undercut the legitimacy of contrary federal law - as has happened with medicinal marijuana - and even push federal courts to bend with the popular wind.

"What's going on is that people all over the country have decided, 'Enough is enough,' " said Kevin Gutzman, a professor at Western Connecticut State University and the author of "Who Killed the Constitution?" "This is supposed to be a federal system, but instead Congress seems to think it can legislate anything it wants."

In May, Montana became the first state to approve the Firearms Freedom Act, which declares that guns manufactured and sold in the Big Sky State to buyers who plan to keep the weapons within the state are exempt from federal gun regulations.

According to the act's supporters, if guns bearing a "Made in Montana" stamp remain in Montana, then federal rules such as background checks, registration and dealer licensing no longer apply. But court cases have interpreted the U.S. Constitution's Interstate Commerce Clause as covering anything that might affect interstate commerce - which in practice means just about anything.

So if this law sounds ripe for a court challenge, well, that's the idea, said Gary Marbut, president of the Montana Sports Shooting Association, the state's largest pro-gun group.

"The Interstate Commerce Clause has grown and grown until the government asserts authority over everything under the sun," said Mr. Marbut, who wrote the original firearms legislation. "How much water you have in your toilet. Almost all environmental laws. Maybe one-third of all federal regulations are asserted under the Commerce Clause."

Go Montana! And Alaska and Texas and any other state considering anti-fed gun laws.

Sarah Barracuda bites hunk out of back-stabbers

First day back on the job as Governor of Alaska on Friday (how's that for a work ethic, starting a work-week on Friday!) and Sarah Barracuda has a few choice words for the back-stabbers.

Palin-McCain (Cindy, not John) for 2012!

Let Sarah Pain speak for herself

Sarah Palin's speaks to Alaskans when she goes home to see her Army son Track off to Iraq.

Allahpundit at Hot Air reports:

Scenes from a homecoming, early this morning in Fairbanks:

NBC/NJ’s Matthew E. Berger reports that Palin couldn’t wait to descend down the stairs from her campaign plane lat night. The plans called for her to wait for the media and staff to leave first, set up, and then allow the doors to open for a grand entrance. But the sight of her family, and several thousand of her Alaskan brethren waiting for her on the tarmac of the Fairbanks airport, was too much. Palin could be heard nearly squealing with delight in the front of the plane at the sight of three of her children at the foot of the stairs, and according to several aides, refused to stay inside the plane.

For all the (often belittling) references to her as a hockey mom and moose-hunter, the key to the public’s fascination with her, I think, is the unexpected flashes of brilliance she shows as a retail politician. No one I know, even among blog readers and grassroots conservatives who have been high on her for months, saw that coming; the assumption was that if McCain picked her, we’d be getting someone young, smart, appealing, with a welcome reputation for ethics and a compelling bio, but probably a bit out of her depth on big stages trying to connect with voters. Watch the first five minutes here and appreciate how expertly she works the crowd. It’s all very colloquial and apparently off-the-cuff, but there’s more artistry than meets the eye.