The Disarming Nature of the Wyoming Firearms Freedom Act:
A Constitutional Analysis of Wyoming’s Interposition
Between Its Citizens and the Federal Government
On March 11, 2010, the State of Wyoming enacted the Wyoming
Firearms Freedom Act (the Act), which directly opposes federal
authority by declaring federal law void as to firearms,
accessories, and ammunition manufactured and retained inside
Wyoming’s borders. The Act not only rejects federal power over the
intrastate regulation of firearms, it also places Wyoming as a
shield between the federal government and Wyoming citizens who
comply with the Act but violate countervailing federal law. The
Act holds federal agents criminally liable for enforcing
conflicting federal law and authorizes the Wyoming Attorney
General to defend Wyoming citizens against federal criminal
prosecution. Wyoming bases its authority to void federal law
regulating intrastate firearms manufacture and possession
primarily on the Tenth Amendment to the United States
Constitution. Naturally, the federal government does not recognize
the Act’s validity. In spite of the federal government’s disdain,
the muddy history of Tenth Amendment case law and state-federal
relations over the course of American history render the
constitutionality of the Act unclear.
The Act demands analysis of its constitutionality both according
to the jurisprudence of the United States Supreme Court and from a
political perspective
11 Wyoming Law Review 201 (2011)
http://www.oshane.com/wp/2011/03/wyomingffacomment/
Mostly tenth amendment analysis, but I trust not entirely off topic.
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