This could be a dismissed as a incredible fantasy dream come true:
“The US Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, has agreed to hear en banc the question of whether Congress has the constitutional authority to enact federal gun control laws.”
The only hook in the enumerated powers granted to the Federal government to regulate guns is the commerce clause. Had you been concerned the feds restricting gun ownership in the early 1800’s you would have thought you were doubly protected by the lack of an enumerated power as well as the 2nd Amendment. As of Wickard v. Filburn (1942) the government bypassed the enumerated powers restriction, and they burst through the loophole like one of the Missoula floods. Now we have an essentially unlimited Federal government.
The case before the Fifth Circuit is a gun case by a convicted felon in possession of a firearm challenging the government’s authority granted in Wickard v. Filburn. If successful at both the appeals court (plausible) it would be immediately appealed to SCOTUS. Justice Thomas has said he thinks this approach to invalidating gun regulation has merit.
If SCOTUS overturns Wickard v. Filburn we would suddenly be living in an unknown universe. Probably 95% (or more) of what the Feds currently do would be beyond their authority.
This would be a way to get out from under the $40 Trillion dollar debt. It would relive all the congress critters from being blamed for the collapse of, well, just about everything the government does.
I would like to believe this has the potential to restore the limited government the founders envisioned. But, to put it mildly, I am skeptical. But it is fun to think about. Imagine the liberal tears, shrieks, and wailing!
But just that this is being considered is incredible. We truly live in interesting times.
When the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791, the Constitution was amended by each of the provisions in the Bill of Rights and its Preamble. As regards the right to keep and bear arms, the Founders made it clear that the federal government could not presume to have the power to infringe upon the right to keep and bear arms by using the Commerce Clause or the power to tax as a pretext toward that end. Wickard V Filburn was wrongly decided and should be overturned, but it should never have been allowed to be seen as holding sway over the subsequent enumeration of the right of the people to keep and bear arms. The National Firearms Act relies on the lie that the government can regulate the right to keep and bear arms through its power of taxation and the Gun Control Act of 1968 relies on the lie that the government can regulate the right to keep and bear arms through its power to regulate interstate commerce. Both of those powers were amended by the Bill of Rights in 1791. Any legislation whose intent or effect would infringe upon the right to keep and bear arms violates the Constitution. The powers to regulate commerce and to impose taxation cannot logically provide an exception to this fact under the standard rules of interpretation.