At 12:09 AM -0700 3/26/04, Clayton E. Cramer wrote: <http://www.claytoncramer.com/weblog/2004_03_21_archive.html#108028484920669481>http://www.claytoncramer.com/weblog/2004_03_21_archive.html#108028484920669481
Tenth Circuit Decision On The Second Amendment
<http://pacer.ca10.uscourts.gov/pdf/03-4119.pdf>U.S. v. Parker (10th Cir. 2004) is out. Some of this won't be surprising; some of it has some twists that I haven't seen before. Once again, we are reminded that most federal judges need to be replaced.
What makes this case especially interesting is that the defendant was prosecuted under federal law for violating a Utah gun control law. I don't know when this federal law was passed, but something called "Assimilative Crimes Act (ACA), 18 U.S.C. � 13" makes it a federal crime to violate a state gun control law on a federal military reservation--even though that military reservation (in this case, Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah) is not actually part of the state of Utah.
Assimilative Crimes Act (I used to be a federale bureaucrat) generally makes it a federal offense to violate state law on federal land.
Fed. land managers need that because on lands that are exclusive federal jurisdiction (chiefly military bases--most federal lands are concurrent jurisdiction where both federal and state law applies, except that fed. controls in a conflict) state law does not apply and state courts have no jurisdiction -- meaning Congress otherwise would have to enact a comprehensive criminal code, everything from disorderly conduct to murder, plus speed limits, DUI, etc., etc. just to cover these lands. Much easier just to assimilate the state law and enforce it in federal court.
Even with it, BTW, federal land managers HATE exclusive jurisdiction land. We had some wildlife refuges that started out as military bases, and were trying to give the jurisdiction back to the state. Exclusive jurisdiction means feds are the only law enforcement with power. Wildlife refuge manager finds a body (which happened) he can't call the sheriff and the coroner. He takes care of it himself, or calls FBI 200 miles away and hopes they'll bother to send someone out. Ditto for a meth lab, drunk driving, disorderly conduct, petty theft, etc. -- _______________________________________________ To post, send message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/firearmsregprof
