Academic

21ST CENTURY GUN CONTROL: Bill Would Require All South Dakota Citizens To Buy A Gun. I don?t think?

By Glenn Reynolds

21ST CENTURY GUN CONTROL: Bill Would Require All South Dakota Citizens To Buy A Gun. I don’t think this bill makes the constitutional point its sponsor intends — state governments, unlike the federal government, are not limited to enumerated powers. But even the federal government could require citizens to own guns under its militia power, as opposed to the commerce power. In fact, it did just that in the Militia Act of 1792, but I rather doubt that this power would extend to requiring ObamaCare under that clause, which empowers Congress “To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress.”

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on February 01, 2011 (boomark / email).