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C0untZer0 · September 6, 2011, 09:53 AM

I think people tend to forget (some Americans in Washington DC seem to forget this especially), that America is a republic. There are 50 different states that form the republic, and each state has authority to make their own laws on everything from Aiding & Abetting to Murder. Environmental laws, - just about everything. The country is a patchwork of overlapping and sometimes conflicting laws.

The city of Chicago passed a law making it illegal to serve goose liver pate (foi gras)

The state of California enacted a law that banned Oreo cookie fillings. There is an effort underway there now to make it illegal for parents to circumcise their kids.

The gun laws can get just as crazy. Different states have different laws regarding things like waiting periods, number of firearms that can be purchased in given time period, restrictions on what capacity magazine can be used in weapons. Maybe the biggest and most important differences are the laws concerning carrying a weapon.

I live in the state of Illinois. In Illinois you are not allowed to carry a weapon on your person. You cannot be “armed”. It’s the only state in the republic that forbids the carrying of a firearm on your person.

Since the right to keep and bear arms is a constitutional amendment – there really should not be that much disparity over the issue. There is considerable uniformity in how First and Fourth Amendment rights are treated across the states. Maybe Illinois is different than the other states in that regard – a Landmark case came out of Illinois involving drug sniffing dogs. At issue was whether having a drug sniffing dog alert to the presence of drugs on a traffic stp constituted unreasonable search (and seizure). Pro 4th Amendment Activists (the ACLU) argued it was, Lisa Madigan – Attorney General for State of Illinois Madigan for State of Illinois argued that a drug dog that sounds the alarm that drugs are present – constitutes probable cause and gives the police the right to search a vehicle. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed with Madigan.

In general though – other amendments rights are now pretty much uniformly protected across the U.S. You don’t see a state sending the National Guard in to shut down a newspaper. You don’t see the state police in one state do house-by-house searches of entire subdivisions just to look for anything they might find. The 2nd Amendment is different though. Things are radically different from state to state. Things are getting better though. The exact constitutional meaning and it’s precise application is being defined in the courts and we are moving toward more uniformity. Outright bans in Washington and Chicago have been overturned. Other cases winding their way through the courts are determining issues of what it means to “bear” arms – the question of carrying them on your person. Other laws are challenging the restrictions that some states have enacted on specific types of ammunition, magazines etc…

There will be greater uniformity in the next few years as the ability for government (at any level) to infringe American’s 2nd Amendment rights is increasingly being limited by proper interpretation of the 2nd Amendment.

September 6, 2011, 09:53 AM	#8
C0untZer0 Junior member Join Date: April 21, 2011 Location: Illinois Posts: 4,555	I think people tend to forget (some Americans in Washington DC seem to forget this especially), that America is a republic. There are 50 different states that form the republic, and each state has authority to make their own laws on everything from Aiding & Abetting to Murder. Environmental laws, - just about everything. The country is a patchwork of overlapping and sometimes conflicting laws. The city of Chicago passed a law making it illegal to serve goose liver pate (foi gras) The state of California enacted a law that banned Oreo cookie fillings. There is an effort underway there now to make it illegal for parents to circumcise their kids. The gun laws can get just as crazy. Different states have different laws regarding things like waiting periods, number of firearms that can be purchased in given time period, restrictions on what capacity magazine can be used in weapons. Maybe the biggest and most important differences are the laws concerning carrying a weapon. I live in the state of Illinois. In Illinois you are not allowed to carry a weapon on your person. You cannot be “armed”. It’s the only state in the republic that forbids the carrying of a firearm on your person. Since the right to keep and bear arms is a constitutional amendment – there really should not be that much disparity over the issue. There is considerable uniformity in how First and Fourth Amendment rights are treated across the states. Maybe Illinois is different than the other states in that regard – a Landmark case came out of Illinois involving drug sniffing dogs. At issue was whether having a drug sniffing dog alert to the presence of drugs on a traffic stp constituted unreasonable search (and seizure). Pro 4th Amendment Activists (the ACLU) argued it was, Lisa Madigan – Attorney General for State of Illinois Madigan for State of Illinois argued that a drug dog that sounds the alarm that drugs are present – constitutes probable cause and gives the police the right to search a vehicle. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed with Madigan. In general though – other amendments rights are now pretty much uniformly protected across the U.S. You don’t see a state sending the National Guard in to shut down a newspaper. You don’t see the state police in one state do house-by-house searches of entire subdivisions just to look for anything they might find. The 2nd Amendment is different though. Things are radically different from state to state. Things are getting better though. The exact constitutional meaning and it’s precise application is being defined in the courts and we are moving toward more uniformity. Outright bans in Washington and Chicago have been overturned. Other cases winding their way through the courts are determining issues of what it means to “bear” arms – the question of carrying them on your person. Other laws are challenging the restrictions that some states have enacted on specific types of ammunition, magazines etc… There will be greater uniformity in the next few years as the ability for government (at any level) to infringe American’s 2nd Amendment rights is increasingly being limited by proper interpretation of the 2nd Amendment.