Brady Campaign...New Champion Of The Tenth Amendment

For more than 30 years, the Brady Campaign has demanded that the federal government impose gun bans, ammo bans, waiting periods, gun registration -- you name it -- with no regard for the states. In 1994, when the group was called Handgun Control, Inc., it said that its main "goal" was to "enact a comprehensive federal gun control policy."

In January, the Brady Campaign endorsed Sen. Frank Lautenberg's (D-N.J.) bills proposing a federal law to prohibit Americans from possessing firearms on the basis of secret allegations, another federal law to regulate gun shows out of business, and another federal law to prohibit magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. Etc., etc., etc.

But when the states have exercised their powers, the Brady Campaign has usually been against it. The group has vigorously denounced dozens of state Right-to-Carry and other laws dedicated to protecting the right of people to use firearms to defend themselves. And last month, it vilified most states for refusing to impose one or another gun restriction. "Arizona, Alaska, and Utah do not have a single common sense gun law on their books [and] 31 states have few gun laws or none," the group whined. The only time the group supports a state gun law is when it restricts the right to arms.

Yesterday, however, the Brady Campaign spoke with a new enthusiasm for "states [and cities'] rights," demanding that Congress "Let D.C. residents govern themselves," while complaining "Every year we see members of Congress interfering with the fundamental American principle of self-government." This nonsense follows the group's opposition to limiting state and local power over the right to keep and bear arms through the Supreme Court's McDonald v. Chicago decision last year.

The Brady Campaign should stop their hypocrisy and phony arguments. The notion that the group believes in the Tenth Amendment is laughable.  Everyone knows that the group believes in restricting the right to keep and bear arms any way it can, with federal gun control, state gun control, local gun control, by executive regulation, by court decisions, by lawsuits designed to bankrupt gun manufacturers, and by any other means it can think of. Trying to cast itself as a defender of our country's federal system, it only discredits itself even more than usual.