Federal Charges For Following State Law
Kansas Veterans On Trial for Following State Law
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.
In 2013 Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback signed into law House Bill 2199, also known as ‘The Second Amendment Protection Act’.
Simply put, any federal gun control laws that may be passed are not valid in the state of Kansas under the new law. The bill also prevents any federal agent from enforcing federal gun control laws within the state, as well as allowing prosecution of federal officers who try to enforce such laws within the state’s borders.
The statute purportedly exempts from federal gun-control laws the firearms, accessories and ammunition manufactured commercially or privately in Kansas and kept within the state’s borders. The Kansas act made it a felony for a federal official to enforce certain directives of Congress regarding firearms.
Co-sponsor of the Kansas bill, state Rep. Brett Hildabrand (R-Shawnee) told the press, “My understanding is, it is the strictest Second Amendment protection law in the nation.”
Except, their citizens have been thrown to the wolves for following this law.
Federal prosecutors have charged Shane Cox, owner of Tough Guys gun store in Chanute, of multiple violations of federal firearms law. He is accused of illegally making and marketing firearms, specifically sound suppressors. Additionally, prosecutors accused Jeremy Kettler, a disabled U.S. Army veteran, as a Tough Guys client who acquired a silencer from Cox and filmed a live-fire test of the gear.
Gov. Brownback has not come to their defense and neither has their Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.
Schmidt informed Secretary of State Kris Kobach that he would get involved in this case only if constitutional validity of the Second Amendment Protection Act were contested in the federal case. His involvement would address defense of Kansas statute, Schmidt said, but not defense of an individual against federal criminal charges.
Has the Kansas Attorney General put Federal Law above Kansas State Law?
This case is coming to a close, expected as soon as today.
If you would like to discuss the case with them, here are their contact numbers:
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt
(785) 296-2215
1-888-428-8436
Kansas Governor Sam Brownback
(785) 296-3232