I'll post separately on the open carry laws that became effective yesterday - no need to prep for anything on that for the final. Below are a few items related to the increasing difference between the states on gun laws. This is a consequence of federalism which contains within it the understanding that states have discretion to pass certain types of laws as they see fit.
For the test, be familiar with the reserved powers, as well as police powers.
Gun laws seem to fit within this category, which explains the variance. I have a hunch though that gun proponents will start using the Second Amendment to challenge state restrictions on gun rights as being violations of a nationally defined right - but that remains to be seen.
Here's more on the subject:
From the Atlantic: The Split Between the States Over Guns.
For the test, be familiar with the reserved powers, as well as police powers.
Gun laws seem to fit within this category, which explains the variance. I have a hunch though that gun proponents will start using the Second Amendment to challenge state restrictions on gun rights as being violations of a nationally defined right - but that remains to be seen.
Here's more on the subject:
From the Atlantic: The Split Between the States Over Guns.
Will restrictions on guns expand or contract in 2016? It depends entirely on which state you’re in. Guns are about to become a lot more visible in the nation’s second most populous state. With a law that takes effect in the new year, Texans licensed to carry firearms won’t have to conceal them anymore—they can wear them out in the open, so long as they are in a belt or shoulder holster. Later in 2016, Texans will be allowed to take guns into campus dorms and classrooms, although those will have to remain hidden from view.
Gun laws are also set to change this week in California, but the country’s biggest state is going in the opposite direction. Concealed weapons will now be banned on college campuses, and police and families will have new powers to seek court orders to strip firearms from relatives believed to be a threat to themselves or others. The partisan debate over gun policy may have paralyzed Congress, but the rise in high-profile mass shootings has catalyzed action in the states, and 2015 saw the gap in gun laws between red and blue states grow ever larger.
The Center for Public Integrity: State lawmakers take aim at federal gun control.
Across the country, a thriving dissatisfaction with the U.S. government is prompting a growing spate of bills in state legislatures aimed at defying federal control over firearms — more than 200 during the last decade, a News21 investigation found.
Particularly in Western and Southern states, where individual liberty intersects with increasing skepticism among gun owners, firearms are a political vehicle in efforts to ensure states’ rights and void U.S. gun laws within their borders. State legislators are attempting to declare that only they have the right to interpret the Second Amendment, a movement that recalls the anti-federal spirit of the Civil War and civil-rights eras.
“I think the president and the majority of Congress, both in the House and Senate, are just completely out of touch with how people feel about Second Amendment rights,” said Missouri state Sen. Brian Nieves, who has fought for bills to weaken the federal government’s authority over firearms in his state.
This article is a bit dated, but it discusses the possible consequences of increased disparity in various types of laws across the states. Could this be yet another factor leading to polarization in the nation?
Governing: Could Gay Marriage, Guns and Marijuana Lead to a Fragmented United States of America?
. . . states pass legislation with an almost industrial efficiency, America, as is often noted these days, is becoming a more and more splintered nation. Red states are redder; blue states are bluer.
Take a look at a U.S. map colored by state party control. In the upper right-hand corner down to the Mid-Atlantic, it’s all blue. In the South and across the Great Plains, you see a blanket of red. That crimson sea begins to break at the Rocky Mountains until you reach a stretch of blue along the West Coast. In a way, we are returning to our roots as a loose confederation of culturally and geographically distinct governments.
States led by Democrats are moving toward broader Medicaid coverage, stricter gun laws and a liberalized drug policy. They’ve legalized gay marriage, abolished the death penalty and extended new rights to undocumented immigrants. Republican strongholds are working quickly to remove government from the business sphere -- reducing taxes, pushing anti-union right-to-work laws and rebelling against the Affordable Care Act (ACA). They’re also pressing forward on some of their most valued social issues, promoting pro-life abortion policies and protecting the rights of gun owners.
The divisions generate fundamental questions about the nature of federalism. The sweeping national interventions of the New Deal and the comprehensive federal social legislation of the 1960s have been replaced by a more decentralized approach to governance. States are openly defying federal law and resurrecting the concept of nullification. These are not merely legal or rhetorical exercises. They are fostering real change and real consequences for average Americans.
