The Need for Single Issue Bills (and Cutting Pork)

Well... It looks like congress has passed yet another $1.7T, 4,155-page monstrosity of an "Omnibus" bill with enough pork in it to feed a nation.  The Michelle Obama Trail in Chicago.  "Ukraine Independence Park" in Washington, DC.  Naming a federal building in San Francisco building after Nancy Pelosi.  Only a mere $1.5M for securing our border.   

As quoted from an article by the Independent Sentinel, here are the most egregious of the out-of-control line items included in this bill:

$410 million towards border security for Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, and Oman.

$1,438,000,000 for membership in global multilateral organizations, including the UN.

$65 million for salmon.

$3 million for bee-friendly highways, & another $5 million for the salmon.

$65.7 million for international fisheries commissions.

$575 million for “family planning” in areas where population growth “threatens biodiversity.”

$3.6 million for the “Michelle Obama Trail.”

$477k for “antiracist” training from the Equity Institute.

$3 million for the LGBTQ+ museum in NYC.

$1.2 million in “services for DACA recipients.”

$11.33 billion for the FBI.

$1.75 billion for the ATF.

$2.63 billion for US Attorneys, emphasizing J6 prosecutions and domestic terrorism cases.

$26 million for the House of Representatives Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

$286 million in Title X funding, which funds Planned Parenthood.

$400k for the “Racial Justice Improvement Project.”

We've been demanding single issue bills for decades! NO bill should be more than a few pages long. This over 4,000 page bill represents all that is broken with our legislative process.  Who knows what other woke agenda items are hidden in this bill.  

The whole idea of "you've gotta pass the bill to find out what's in it" is absolute hogwash!  This bill puts us up to $31 TRILLION in national debt!  This is absolutely insane.

State (Firearms) Preemption Laws

I'm not sure that enough firearms owners are really aware of just how important a state's firearms preemption laws are.  More and more states with democrat legislative majorities are now targeting them to get rid of them.  Do these liberal legislative bodies know something that we don't know?  The answer to that is a firm YES!  They know how to get gun control by any and every means necessary.  

Some background: If a state has a firearms preemption law in place, it basically means that all the cities and towns within the state cannot just make up laws of their own if they are contrary to a state law, and thus creating an impossible to navigate "patchwork" of firearms laws throughout the state.  So, for example, if Colorado has a law stating that concealed carry permits SHALL be issued to anyone who passes the requirements to get the permit, then a city or town cannot make a law to ban concealed carry.  Another example, the state does not ban a certain type of firearm by law, and a city passes a ban on that type of firearm.  Anyone driving through that city by necessity (i.e. the Interstate runs through that city) and they are traveling somewhere else with no intent of stopping in that city, they cannot be arrested for being in possession of that firearm even though the city bans it.  Plus, it makes it easier to fight such a law on grounds of unconstitutionality.  

But without a preemption law in place, the cities can do whatever they want.  Again, I use Colorado as the example here because that's where I used to live.  Colorado recently passed a law to repeal the state preemption law, and now the various cities and towns are doing a full court press to create laws of their own to indeed create this impossible patchwork of firearms laws.  Before the preemption law was repealed, the City of Denver was unable to create a law banning concealed carry because the state law stated that a concealed carry permit SHALL be issued if the individual met all the requirements.  Now that the preemption law is repealed, Denver is most assuredly passing the law to ban concealed carry.  So even though someone has a state valid concealed carry permit in their possession, they can still be arrested for carrying a concealed firearm within the Denver city limits.  Before the repeal of the preemption law, the City of Boulder tried to create a law banning a certain type of firearm, but it was held up because their law was unconstitutional. (Don't ask me how Denver got away with it before this).  Now that the preemption law is repealed, Boulder can pass the law with virtually no impedance.

In Colorado, cities and towns like Boulder, Fort Collins, Denver, and even some of the smaller towns are now moving full steam ahead with banning types of firearms, banning concealed carry, and making it impossible to move throughout the state without violating a ridiculous patchwork of dissimilar and random laws.  I predict that before long, the once freedom-loving state of Colorado will be as un-second amendment friendly as California is now.

After Colorado repealed the preemption law, I decided that I had about had enough and moved to South Dakota where we do have a preemption law that states that cities who try to pass their own firearms laws that are contrary to the state's laws, the law will be null and void, and they will be the target of injunctive relief if they do not cease and desist!  I Remember recently, in our small town here in South Dakota, and this was right after a shooting in another state where someone used an AR-15 rifle, a poor frightened lady stood before our city council and asked them to make a declaration or pass a law outlawing AR-15s in our town.  No one on the council said a word.  Evidently, they didn't have the heart to tell this poor frightened soul that if they created such a law, the State Attorney General would be taking action against our town.  And THAT is exactly the type of protection from these random and useless laws that I want!  I feel sorry for her, but her fear does not trump my rights! 

Wake up, people!  If your state is trying to do away with your preemption law, you need to speak up!  Once your preemption law is gone, your towns can do whatever they want to take away your gun rights, and you now have one less thing to offer you protection.