Utah governor believes that only restricting law-abiding gun owners can prevent forest fires

Recent wildfires in the state of Utah are bringing together “concerned” Utahans to act against the Second Amendment.  Officials say at least twenty fires this year was caused by “gun fire,” so apparently their obvious next move is to ban firearm use in areas that may cause a wildfire.

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First of all, it would be nice if concerned citizens stop trying to regulate the actions of innocent Americans who are in pursuit of life, liberty and property, including Governor Gary Herbert, who has relegated forest officials to ban firearms in locations they deem dangerous.

Stop for one second to think about how insane it is to ban firearm use simply because of some shots gone bad, we might as well ban swimming pools since the most common cause of death among children is drowning.

CBS reports that more than 110,000 acres have burned in Utah this year. The majority of the fires have been caused by humans.  Ummm, should we ban humans?

Wikipedia reports that the Milford Flat Fire occurring on July 6, 2007 was the largest wildfire in Utah history, and caused by lightening.  Ummm, can we ban lightening too?

Thanks to a growing amount of control freak officials who run this country, government jobs are the fastest growing industry, next to politicians/lawyers (who write the laws) and law enforcement (who enforce them), and seems to be the only way to make a buck.  Realize that every new law creates an untold amount of government jobs, at tax payer expense of course.

Governor Herbert says he supports the Second Amendment, but clearly he does not, otherwise he would leave the good citizens of Utah and their Second Amendment rights alone.

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“The 2nd Amendment guarantees the right of citizens to keep and bear arms. I strongly support that right, not just in word, but in action. During the 2010 legislative session, my support of the 2nd Amendment, as well as the 10th, was put to the test by Senate Bill 11. This bill protects not only the right to keep and bear arms, but the right of states to regulate commerce within their own borders. Despite pressure from anti-gun groups, I signed the bill.” (Source: 2010 Gary Herbert Gubernatorial Campaign Website)

A close look at the referenced bill shows a brand new law that avoids existing Federal law, which requires gun sellers to conduct a background check before a sale can be made (a regulation reasonable gun owners support); and institutes a procedure that stamps all firearms made in Utah as made in Utah, for what purpose?  Governor Herbert says the Tenth Amendment says we can.

The Tenth Amendment says: “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.”

Yet, the powers that Senate Bill 11 assumes is already determined in the Constitution in Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 which says: “[The Congress shall have power] To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes.”

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And, the Fourteenth Amendment says (in part): “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

In a nut shell, since Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 of the Constitution says the United States Congress has the power to regulate commerce, and in this case that means the sale of guns; and the Fourteenth Amendment says states cannot haphazardly make laws in violation of the Constitution, Governor Herbert (in my book) actually shows a propensity to operate against the Constitution, regardless of what he says.

Governor Herbert will have us believe he supports the Second Amendment because he would like to see anyone purchase guns; including convicted felons in violation of Federal law, but innocent Americans bearing firearms near a dangerous forest is a no-no, even though the Second Amendment says our right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

You see it is not enough for an official to say “I support the Constitution,” and be deserving of our vote, we must scrutinize all politicians, Republicans and Democrats alike, if we really want to return our great Nation to the principles upon which it was founded.

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Beware, elected officials are rip-roaring ready to make law upon law, regulation upon regulation, restriction upon restriction, whether it exploits the Constitution are not.  Our Founding Fathers created a Constitutional Republic designed to protect the individual, yet over the years the document that ought to govern our nation is grossly ignored in favor of control freaks who are more concerned with unreal utopian safety guidelines than guaranteed individual rights.

The power of our vote is the only way to hold politicians accountable.  This November, weed out the bad that seek to subvert the Constitution and elect the ones that get it right.

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