Head'em off at the Constitution

federali

Much of the battle to preserve 2nd Amendment rights have been reactive in nature. Perhaps we can head off bad laws by having our friends in Congress introduce legislation that would require congressmen and senators to obtain a constitutional review and opinion as a prerequisite for any bill they wish to introduce. In the case of the 2nd Amend, many of our congressmen and senators knowingly introduce unconstitutional gun laws because of our reluctance (and the costs) to appeal the law. If my suggestion was in place, we just might keep many of the anti-gun proposals from being introduced.We're kidding ourselves if we expect congress to repeal the bad laws already on the books. Thus, we need to be more pro-active in our fight. We need to throw legal roadblocks in the path of our enemies.

NOTPARS

Amen to what you said Federali! Not too long ago, and I wish I could remember who it was, a Congressmen introduced a bill that would require Congress to identify in the Constitution, the authority for whatever the new bill proposed to do. It went down to a flaming defeat. Of course, the enumerated powers, Article 1 Section 8, spells out specifically what Congress may do. If its not on the list, they are prohibited from doing whatever they contemplate. Whatever is not on the list is a grant of authority to either the States or the people. I believe it is pretty revealing when our own government refuses to explain the Constitutional grant of authority for the bills they pass. But it makes sense once you read Article 1, Section 8. Almost nothing they do is Constitutional.

salzo

I have often thought about what you have propsed-but I do not think it would really do any good. Who would be placed on this panel to review the legislation that the legislators enact? If it is judges, they could just operate with their own political agenda, something that they already do on the bench.It does not take a rocket scientist, or a lawyer to read and realize specifically what the constitution says. The bill of rights says what congress cannot do, yet that does not stop them. Have the right panel overviewing what congress does, and congress can continue to ignore the constitution.I think the "panel" you are refering to is the people. The people are the ones who can decide who is obeying the cxonstitution by voting the violators out of office. The problem is the people are as ignorant and uninterested in the constitution as the politicians and judges are.