Far-Right Fantasy by James Aho

Author:James Aho [Aho, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Sociology of Religion
ISBN: 9781317334064
Google: 7FVACwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2015-12-22T04:06:53+00:00

Interlude 6

Nullification

When right-wing extremists realize that they are not “sovereign citizens” after all, that they will be unable to impeach “tyrants” such as President Obama, that they are powerless to convene constitutional conventions to rid the nation of the IRS, and that ridicule will follow talk of secession or shutting down the government, their fantasies fix on nullification: invalidating “unconstitutional” federal laws, among them, gun laws, which, they say “infringe on the People’s right to keep and bear arms.” To this end, in 2013 both houses of the Missouri state legislature overwhelmingly passed a “Second Amendment Preservation Act.” On paper, it preemptively voided federal laws that would restrict the manufacture, ownership, or use of guns, magazines, or ammunition; it called for the arrest on misdemeanor charges of federal or state officials who attempted to enforce such laws; opened these officials to citizen lawsuits for false arrest; criminalized the outing of any Missouri gun owner by the media; lowered to 19 the age required for obtaining an open/carry gun permit; and licensed teachers to serve as armed “school protection officers.”After reminding voters that he was a gun-lover himself, Democrat governor Jay Nixon vetoed the Act, arguing it was “unsafe,” “imprudent,” and “unconstitutional,” because it violated the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, which grants precedence to federal statutes over state laws that violate them. The Missouri House of Representatives defiantly voted to overturn Nixon’s veto by a two-thirds majority. When the veto measure was sent to the state senate, it failed to pass by a single vote. With this, a constitutional crisis the likes of which had not been seen since the Civil War was averted. Undeterred, one legislator vowed, “This fight ain’t over, it ain’t over, it ain’t over, … We’ll be back … Guns save lives!” The gun enchantment of Missouri’s state legislators has since spread to Idaho, Ohio, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Georgia, and Arizona.

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