Deep State’ Mortal Threat To 2nd Amendment Rights. What We Can Do About It Right Now

Opinion by Roman Buhler
Editor’s Note: AmmoLand News has included this video from 2016, please excuse some legistlative points as they have changed with time.

USA – -(AmmoLand.com)- “If Congress Does Not Change Federal Gun Laws, Kamala Harris Promises, She Will Do It by Presidential Fiat”

That was the headline of a recent article in Reason magazine..

We don’t know when there will be another anti-2nd Amendment President, but we know that there will almost certainly be another one elected sometime in the coming years.

Such a President could catastrophically impact 2nd Amendment rights and decimate the American firearms industry, with a series of regulatory edicts dictated by un-elected Washington bureaucrats. No vote of Congress would be required.

We cannot defeat this threat simply by winning the next election. Winning an election can only delays the disaster for a few more years. To end the threat we must do more.

We must demand today that our elected officials support permanent curbs on the power of un-elected federal bureaucrats.

But we can’t settle for a law, even if we could get one passed in the current deadlocked Congress. A law passed by Congress to curb regulators, could be struck down in Court or repealed by a future Congress.

To permanently curb the administrative state, we must Constitutionally require that major new federal regulations be approved by Congress.

But Constitutional Amendments are difficult to enact, Congress isn’t about to propose a Constitutional Amendment on its own, and conservatives are deeply divided over the wisdom of convening a Convention to propose an Amendment.

The achievable solution may be an idea suggested by former Reagan Attorney General Ed Meese based on 200 years of American constitutional history: His idea: “Give the states the same power as Congress to propose a specific Amendment to the U.S. Constitution”,

It turns out that every time in American history that Congress has seen a strong majority of the public and 2/3 of the states in favor of a particular Amendment, Congress has acted.

12 of the 27 Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, including the Bill of Rights and, most recently, presidential term limits were proposed by Congress under pressure from the states and the public.

Our challenge today is to revive the power of states and citizens to force Congress to propose an Amendment without a convention, that both 2/3 of the states and a majority of the public want.

The good news is that by a more than 2-1 margin voters favor an Amendment to require that major new federal regulations be approved by Congress!

And even better news is that 29 state legislative chambers in 18 out of the 34 states we need to get a 2/3 majority have already endorsed a simple Amendment called the “Regulation Freedom Amendment” that would require that Congress approve major new federal regulations.

The Amendment says:

“Whenever one quarter of the Members of the U.S. House or the U.S. Senate transmit to the President their written declaration of opposition to a proposed federal regulation, it shall require a majority vote of the House and Senate to adopt that regulation.”

In other words, if one quarter of the U.S. House or Senate object to a proposed federal regulation, a majority of both Houses must vote to approve it.

The Regulation Freedom Amendment has been unanimously endorsed by the Republican National Commitee in a Resolution pre-approved by the White House.

Mike Pence was the first Governor to endorse the Regulation Freedom Amendment. Ted Cruz was the first Senator to endorse it. Georgia Senator David Perdue has offered to be a leader of this effort in the U.S. Senate.

Some of the many other endorsers include the American Farm Bureau, the National Taxpayers Union, the 2016 Republican National Platform, former NRA President David Keene and Gun Owners of America Executive Director Larry Pratt.

Our goal is to make support for the Regulation Freedom Amendment virtually unanimous among those who want to be seen as supporters of curbing the Administrative State and preserving the regulatory reforms of this Administration.

Just as the “no tax increase” pledge re-defined the Republican brand almost 30 years ago, support for “Regulation Freedom Amendment” can define a new generation of elected officials who believe the people should have the final say over the rules that govern them.

You and concerned citizens you know can help advance this effort by asking any Republican elected official:

“Do you think that the rules that govern us should be dictated by un-elected Washington bureaucrats, or should the people have the final say?”

And when an elected official says, “Of course the people should have the final say” you can ask them the key question:

“What is your position on the Regulation Freedom Amendment, endorsed by the RNC with the approval of the White House and by conservatives like Ed Meese and Mike Pence, to require that major new federal regulations be approved by Congress?”

If they haven’t heard of it, you can send them a copy of this article, the below flyer and a link to our website www.RegulationFreedom.org

Regulation Freedom Amendment Flyer

They may tell you they have supported a proposed law called the REINS Act that was backed by every voting Republican House Member in the last Congress. The REINS Act would require that some new regulations be approved by Congress.

But the REINS Act is three fatal flaws.

• First, it could be challenged and overturned in Court.
• Second it could be repealed or waived by a future Congress.
• And Third, because it only applies to regulations with a cost of more than $50 million dollars, it may not apply to critical regulations that impact 2nd Amendment rights or religious freedom, and could easily be evaded by bureaucrats who propose regulations with a cost under the dollar cost threshold.

Support for temporary regulation reform that would leave 2nd Amendment rights and religious freedom unprotected should not be enough to satisfy citizens who want real permanent protection from overreaching federal bureaucrats.

So you should insist on getting an answer to the original question.

“What is your position on the Regulation Freedom Amendment that can not be challenged in court or repealed by a future Congress, and that fully protects 2nd Amendment rights and religious freedom?”

And if the answer is “I don’t know” you can ask that their office review the issue and let you know their position.

We believe that when offices of most Republicans do the research, they will conclude that the strong Republican and conservative support for the Regulation Freedom Amendment combined with a growing chorus of inquires from grassroots 2nd Amendment and other regulatory reform advocates will persuade those elected officials that it is to their benefit to join the list of those who support the Amendment.

As support for the Amendment grows among Republicans and even among some reasonable Democrats pressure will grow on more Democrats, especially those in swing districts to support the Amendment and demonstrate that they really do prefer “Democracy over Bureaucracy”.

The question “Should bureaucrats keep their power to rule by decree or should we give power back to elected representatives of the people” could be a decisive in the 2020 election, but only if there is a clear contrast for voters to see.

That is why your role can be critical in persuading elected officials to endorse the Amendment and to help make “End Regulation without Representation” a front burner issue for the American public.

Every elected official you help persuade to endorse the Amendment adds to the pressure for reform and makes this issue more visible.

In addition to building a grassroots team who will ask elected officials where they stand, we are also building a team of volunteer advocates willing attend meetings, conferences and conventions to spread the word about how we can take power out of Washington and return it to the people as the President promised to do in his inaugural address.

And we are also building a team of online advocates who will spread the Regulation Freedom Amendment message on social media.

If you would like to learn more or to get more involved in this effort in any way, please visit our website www.RegulationFreedom.org or email us at [email protected] and we will reply to you personally.

The left has demonstrated their desire to replace rule of law by consent of the governed with the tyranny of un-elected Washington bureaucrats.

That is our unpleasant future if we don’t act to prevent it.

Not only the 2nd Amendment rights, but our representative system of Constitutional government is at stake.

If you agree that the abusive power of the administrative state is a threat we can’t ignore, and that we must make curbing the authority of un-elected bureaucrats it a major issue in 2020, contact us today.

www.RegulationFreedom.Org
[email protected]

Thank you for your interest in the 2nd Amendment and in working save freedom in our nation for the next generation.

Roman Buhler is the National Director of the Madison Coalition. He served as Counsel to the Committee on House Administration of the U.S. House of Representatives for 14 years. He was Newt Gingrich’s first House Committee Counsel.