Imagine the pearl clutching going on right now in the Empire State’s seats of power. One of their own, upstate Congressman Chris Collins, has introduced a bill he’s calling the Second Amendment Guarantee Act. As buffalonews.com reports, the premise of the bill is refreshingly simple.

Collins’s proposed law — the Second Amendment Guarantee Act, or SAGA — would overturn current state and local gun laws that are more stringent than federal regulations, while blocking states and localities from enacting any such laws in the future.

SAGA basically mirrors preemption laws that are already in place in dozens of states around the country. With a few notable exceptions. Which is why the terrifying specter of SAGA is being greeted with about the same level of shock and horror among the Civilian Disarmament Industrial Complex as the prospect of national reciprocity has been.

First among those shrieking their opposition are some of Rep. Collins’ home state pals, who recognize that if SAGA passes, New York’s stringent gun control regime would become null and void.

The SAFE Act will be in mortal danger if Rep. Chris Collins gets his way.

But the Clarence Republican’s legislative proposal for overturning New York’s tough gun control law, and others like it, remains a long way from becoming law. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and congressional Democrats are likely to do all they can to prevent that from happening.

So would national anti-gun groups, some of whom were apparently shocked into speechlessness by the very prospect of national preemption.

A spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence failed to respond to a request for comment. Yet other gun control advocates, such as State Assemblyman Sean Ryan, were quick to criticize the Collins proposal.

“SAFE Act is a common sense gun safety law,” Ryan, a Buffalo Democrat, said on Twitter. Calling Collins’ bill a dangerous bid to end gun safety laws, Ryan added: “He should remember all we have lost.”

Here’s a good rule of thumb: any proposed legislation that has left-leaning politicians citing the Constitution to support their political position is probably worthy of support.

State officials said they believe the bill may violate the Constitution’s 10th amendment.

That amendment reads: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

And another excellent indicator: anything that riles up Governor Andrew Cuomo — who worked so hard to ram the SAFE Act though in the dead of night — is also probably on the right track.

Cuomo issued a statement denouncing Collins’ gun legislation as a blatant political ploy.

“Chris Collins is turning his back on New Yorkers and putting millions of people at profound risk,” Cuomo said. “By fighting to roll back vital legislation that protects the people of the Empire State, Collins is demonstrating once again that he is beholden to no one but the gun lobby and entrenched special interests.”

As the Buffalo News article accurately notes, the bill has a long row to hoe before becoming law.

It’s not clear that Collins’ measure could cross the 60-vote threshold for passage in the Senate, given that Democrats may have the votes to block it if the measure got that far.

Getting a majority in even the Republican-controlled House could be problematic. Still, SAGA’s introduction, and the reactions thereto, will be nothing if not entertaining.

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65 COMMENTS

  1. Republicans in Congress apparently have no leadership now. They’re acting like sheep in a pasture, fighting over each blade of grass.

    They can’t even rid us of that socialist train wreck known as Obamacare. No way this bill will go anywhere.

    • Totally agree.

      I am a Trump supporter still, but I live in the prison state of California I really have no representation in government. My vote is meaningless. The repubs are so broken so I dont even have representation on the national level even though we have both the Legislative and the exec.

    • Let Obama care die on its own. It already has collapsed health care groups in several states. By the midterms it will be gone.

      • Obumercare was DESIGNED and INTENDED by the demtards to fail and collapse. Then Hillary would save the day for socialism by institution the end game – stalincare. The voter failed to follow instructions.

    • It’s sad the Republicans have more control nation-wide of every level of government and yet they aren’t actually in control.

      Seven years they said they’d get rid of Obamacare, they campaigned on it and got elected for it, we gave them the House, the Senate and the Presidency and all they can offer is some half-baked Obamacare-lite solution that will just make things worse.

      I’m almost convinced that the majority of Republicans are nothing but obstructionists. If they lose power in 2018 it will go down in history as the greatest squandering of political opportunity in modern American history and the party will not survive if they don’t get their shit together fast.

      • I consider many in congress (on both sides of the aisle) to be Establishmentarians. They like their jobs, they like being part of the establishment, and their first course of action is to remain in place.

        So, when republicans know they can’t get an ACA repeal passed (because Obama, filibuster, majority, or whatever), they’ll gladly vote for it, so they can tell their voters “well….we tried. Keep sending me back and I’ll keep trying.”

        They never expected Trump to win. They never expected their bluff to get called. They haven’t done any real work toward repealing the ACA over the last seven years because they never expected to actually get the chance to do so.

        Trump’s win has finally put many of them in the unenviable position of actually having to fulfill campaign promises.

        I see a long game in this. Trump will keep pushing (incrementally) to get something on his desk, and it won’t ever quite come. Then, as primary season gets rolling, and all those reluctant Rs start facing primary challenges, something familiar will come along. One of the three dozen Obama-era repeals will be offered for a vote, and when people who voted for the bill under Obama vote against the exact same language under Trump, Trump will use that to blow every single one of those clowns out of the primary waters.

        Can’t say if that will lead to a democrat winning the seat or not, but it’ll certainly drain the swamp of the current folks.

        • “I see a long game in this. Trump will keep pushing (incrementally) to get something on his desk, and it won’t ever quite come”

          I’m not so sure on that one.

          There is a growing chorus of voices calling for shit-canning the filibuster.

          We can do that, and if that happens…

          *snicker* 🙂

      • …hey you’ve been listening to Rush! Blown opportunity is correct. Apparently the entire congress cares MORE about their phony, baloney jobs (reference to Gov. Lapetamane – Blazing Saddles) than doing what the job description requires…the will of their states’ & the American people.

    • This is NY state legislation. Congress has nothing to do with it. It will be blocked because new york is run by greasy democrats

  2. The Democrats’ mention of the Tenth Amendment is particularly rich. You could fill a library with all the regulations Congress has crammed down the states’ throats over the years, in blatant violation of the plain language of the Tenth Amendment.

    • The 10th amendment is completely moot in this instance. The state itself would be passing a state law voted on by a state legislature that is just affirming federal law. It’s not being forced upon them by the feds, if that passes, it’s because the state wants it.

      • Um… this is a story about Congressman Chris Collins, who is a U.S. Congressman, in the U.S. House of Representatives, and is introducing a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that, conceivably, would become Federal law.

        Federal. As in United States. That’s the country with the Constitution with a Tenth Amendment.

  3. “State officials said they believe the bill may violate the Constitution’s 10th amendment.

    That amendment reads: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

    The 2nd Amendment Trumps the 10th Amendment. It has “SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED” in it. NY State SAFE Act violates the 2nd Amendment.

    • But Kevin, the Bill of Rights only applies to the federal government. That means the states are free to criminalize religion, free speech, and peaceful political rallies. It also means that you have no right to remain silent in the states. Nor do you have any right to be secure in your papers or possessions since the states can unreasonably search you and seize your property without warrants, probable cause, or due process. And the states can try you as many times as it takes to secure a conviction against you. Of course we cannot forget that the states can also apply excessive fines and implement cruel and unusual punishment. Finally, that means the states can criminalize your right to keep and bear arms all they want.

      If that sounds totally and utterly messed up, it is. And yet our state of affairs today is equally screwed up: some of the rights outlined in the Bill of Rights apply to the states and some do not. Which do and why (and which do not and why not) is a random function of the political mindset of the government entities who interpret, enforce, or violate the Bill of Rights.

      In other words we are no longer a nation of law and justice: we are a nation of the strongest political group.

      • “some of the rights outlined in the Bill of Rights apply to the states and some do not”

        True, although most do. The most prominent rights protected by the Bill of Rights that have not yet been held to bind the states are the Third Amendment (quartering of troops in peacetime) and the Grand Jury Clause of the Fifth Amendment.

        It wasn’t until 2010 that SCOTUS applied 2A to the states.

        • Then we should white out Article 6 of the Constitution, which establishes the Federal Constitution as the supreme law of the land. Also known as the Supremacy Clause. See Martin v Hunters Lessee 1816, and Gibbons v Ogden 1824.

        • Ralph,

          What is the rationale for claiming that the Bill of Rights ONLY applies (prior to the 14th Amendment) to the federal government?

          I know the First Amendment says, “CONGRESS shall make no law …” which seems to apply only to fedzilla. The Second Amendment, however, does not specify Congress. In fact it does not specify any specific aspect of government. Therefore, it should apply to ALL governments … even to the judicial branch of whatever jurisdiction. What is the argument otherwise?

        • Because the Fed guberment is the creation of the several states. The States are not subordinate (or subservient).

  4. It’s from NY, so I view it as a wolf in wolf’s clothing with a sheep tramp-stamp tattoo. Don’t get mesmerized by staring at the tattoo.

    This isn’t the FED protecting the RTKABA, this is the FED decides gun control for everyone. Can’t trust either of the players and the 2nd Paragraph of the Declaration of Independence says “KEEP YOUR GUNS FOR THE END OF AMERICA”.

  5. SAGA’s introduction … will be nothing if not entertaining.

    That is exactly what it will be: nothing.

    There is no way that:
    (a) All 51 Republican senators will vote for this.
    (b) And 9 Democrat senators will vote for this.
    — or alternatively —
    (c) Senator McConnell will allow the bill to pass with 51% support in the Senate and 51 senators will support it.

    Call me jaded. Whenever I think I have finally grasped the magnitude of emotional instability and depravity of the public and all levels of government, I am stunned to find it is even greater than I previously imagined.

    • Upstate NY is sort of like south Jersey: some actual conservatives here and there but nowhere near enough to counter all the RINOs and libtards. I’ll be surprised if this passes.

    • And when at least 3 of the “Republican” senators are donkeyettes, and one’s a raging burro with a brain tumor, you’ll never get 51 R votes for any affirmation of rights that “Conservatives” place value upon.

      • Unless it’s subterfuge for a gun grab.

        You know what they say, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, I’ll hang your pelt on the side of my barn, destroy everything and everyone you know, and hunt your kids.”

      • The Bushs are democrats at heart.
        Remember, it was Dubya who said “Send me an AWB and I will sign” it in 2004.

    • “Every year, I think it can’t possibly get any worse. Every year, I’m wrong” – Lewis Black

  7. Ok so this will go nowhere. ATF is asking the Republican Congress to remove suppressors from the NFA, they won’t do it. Support for national reciprocity is overwhelming. They won’t do it. They’re statist pansies. The bill is DOA.

  8. I was practicing at a NY State Public range recently and the Range Master shared that out of the estimated 1 million “assault” rifles in the State of New York, only 40,000 have been “registered” under the SAFE Act, out of which 20,000 were law enforcement officers. Therefore, only 2% of estimated gun owners (20,000 civilians) registered their weapons.

    • 40,000 “assault weapons” not people. I know a guy who registered 3 rifles alone. So the number of people who actually registered is lower by a factor of 2 or 3.

  9. Going nowhere is right. But there is a practice in politics that if you put out a handful of “scare the bejesus out of ’em” bills (overturn all state firearms laws, require teachers to have firearms, national constitutional carry) it can sometimes help grease the way for your true aims – national reciprocity, or NFA modifications for instance.

    Not holding my breath but we’ve never had a political climate quite like this either. Grab your popcorn.

    • Who knows this bill sounds so offense and obtuse to their refined and civilized sensibilities that it may actually destroy the entire Democratic Party.

      Between all their heads exploding and their hair catching on fire burning down their buildings, there may not be any surviving members of the DNC left

      /s

  12. The bill is really only about “assault weapons.” It only covers rifles, shotguns, and their accessories. Additionally, it’s not about the 2A. It’s about Congress’s power to regulate interstate commerce. It’s got the “has moved in, or any such conduct that affects, interstate or foreign commerce” language.

    The Congress has the authority to enforce the Bill of Rights. This authority is granted by Section 5 of the 14A. With all the actions of states’ that violate the 2A, it is time for Congress use their Section 5 powers to rein in these violations.

    Here is a description of the power’s scope from “The Heritage Guide to the Constitution:”

    “On the other hand, the Supreme Court has declared that Congress may, as a prophylactic matter, ban state actions that it has found to be generally violative of the Fourteenth Amendment, even if in some instances they might not be. A classic example is the literacy test for voting. See Oregon v. Mitchell (1970). In theory, a state could use such a test in a constitutional way, but Congress determined that these tests were so commonly abused that they should be banned across the board, and the Court upheld this ban. The law was aimed at preventing actual and potential violations of the Constitution; it did not change the Constitution’s substantive meaning and guarantees.”

  13. “SAFE Act is a common sense gun safety law,”
    Not according to 90%+ of NY gun owners who chose not to comply with the onerous registration requirements. When is NY going to arrest all these newly minted felons? It’s shameful…

  14. It won’t pass. There are too many RINO’s in the Senate, which only has 51 republicans to begin with, and McConnell and Ryan are too chicken sh** to ram it through the legislature.

  15. “SAFE Act is a common sense gun safety law,”

    Every time that there is an adjective in a name it is a blatant lie,

    -Common sense gun control
    -Affordable Health Car
    -Smart Car

  17. Preemption laws don’t work. We have one written into the PA constitution and Philadelphia disregards it. They won’t even honor the state issued concealed carry license. If the state doesn’t enforce it it’s meaningless. What are they gonna do, arrest the mayor of NYC? Fat chance.

    • Florida’s preemption law does work. It has big teeth, they CAN remove offending officials from office. Check it out, and work toward modifying Pennsylvania law to match. EVERY state needs this law!

  19. This bill will not pass, but not because of RINOs. It will not be supported by a significant number of gun-rights folks who simply don’t want to see the Federal government involved in any gun laws whatsoever.

  20. Ahahahahaha!!!!! Ha! *snort* Hahahahaha!

    This bill has a snowball’s chance in hell, but it’ll be a lot of fun to hear the squealing and crying noise the progbots make when they clench their crusty sphincters in unison.

  21. We already have a Federal Pre-emption law, it’s called the Constitution. Now all we need is to enforce it. What part of shall not be infringed seems so difficult to understand?

  22. We blame the republicans and democrats for all this but we only need to blame ourselves. On average only 58% vote in primary elections and less than half vote in state and local elections. If you vote and say 10 of your neighbors don’t well those 10 won’t vote most likely never.

  23. I love the liberal argument on this. The 2nd Amendment does not matter, but the 10th Amendment suddenly does. Oh and ignore the 10th Amendment on anything from Healthcare, to homosexual marriage. Yeah, these people are hypocrites. Let’s nuke the filibuster and get this thing passed! And while we are at it, let’s get the hearing protection act passed too!

  24. ENOUGH! Just pass the Senate National Reciprocity Bill. These clowns keep introducing bill after bill, tie them up in Committee and accomplish nothing. Stop the grandstanding and get something done!

  26. I’m tired of hearing about the “60 vote threshold.”

    Put it up for a vote. Let them stand up there and try to filibuster it.

    • Additionally, a filibuster cannot stop legislative action. It can only delay it. It’s not like they’re getting a lot done anyway.

  27. Ryan should have added: “Maybe we Democrats should remember all we have lost in the last 8 years.”

  28. Nobody from upstate is “one of their own”, simply ones they haven’t driven out yet.

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