It always astounds me how much hot air comes out of the legislature every year about how grand the Constitution is and how we must uphold the document as a sacred text…unless there is something in there that happens to disagree with the legislature, that is.

Take, for example SB 249, Firearm Possession Amendments as proposed by Sen. Mark Madsen (R-Lehi, District 13). The bill adds three lines of text that basically spit in the face of our Constitution.

Why? Well the bill says that if you can legally posses a firearm in Utah, you are exempt from any federal laws regarding legal possession of a gun.

At this point, I have to ask if Madsen is dense or unpatriotic? Perhaps he simply does not know that the federal government always (and I do mean always) trumps state law – that was just one of those pesky little conditions we agreed too all those years ago when we decided to join the United States. But, perhaps he doesn’t know that…perhaps he thinks it is okay if, for example, an employee says “ya know what? I am going to ignore company policy because I know I have a better way to do things.”

But this conclusion seems odd, as his legislative webpage proudly lists himself as a member of the Federalist Society – After all, one would assume that a Federalist Society member knows how federalism works…

So, this leads me to my second conclusion – he is unpatriotic.  Why else would he openly defy the Federal Government except to prove that he knows better than the founders on this one? I don’t know, that seems awfully anti-American to me.

There is, I suppose, a third option: Madsen is a blowhard who is more concerned about proving a point than he is actually taking time to properly legislate on the hill.  He has no problem wasting your taxpayer dollars on a bill that will be challenged and will fail in court. No doubt about it.

I am sick and tired of rabid lawmakers out to prove just how much they hate the government by posting ridiculous bills such as these. They are unnecessary, they bog down the process, and worst of all, they waste time. Shame on you Sen. Madsen for not respecting the peoples house and proposing real legislation.

To contact Sen. Madsen, Click Here or call 801-361-4787

Impact: 0

Need: 0

Overall: -5

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To view other bills in the 2012 Bills to Watch series, Click Here