Upcoming Texas Suppressor Law?
BY Herschel Smith
1 year, 6 months ago
As you all are aware by now, Texas passed a “Texas Made Suppressor Law” last session. It is a highly specific law that says that a suppressor that is made ENTIRELY of Texas made parts and stays in Texas is legal. Representative Tom Oliverson (R-District 130) led the fight for passage on this bill and it was well crafted.
It requires anyone who wants to build these to first seek a Declaratory Judgement from the courts–thus giving Attorney General Ken Paxton legal standing to defend the law.
Good news for us! The feds tried to kill the case and Judge Pittman said their arguments were not good enough to pull the plug on the case and denied their motion.
We will have our day in court! Post-Bruen, I have high hopes that this will prevail. Further, I spoke with Representative Oliverson this morning and he said ““HB957 passed its first legal challenge yesterday. I am glad to see the lawsuit move forward and I look forward to Judge Pittman’s evaluation of the arguments. I believe the case against federal regulation of these Texas-made, Texan-owned firearm safety devices is solid!”
It’s going to be a long haul but the trial date has been included in the four-week docket beginning November 12, 2023 and I have high hopes for it!
Here’s the problem. Unless this bill includes the directive for local LEOs to arrest agents of the FedGov who attempt to arrest folks who have suppressors without registering them as NFA items, the law is meaningless.
It’s a setup and trap, even if unintentional.
Do the right thing with the bill. Connect it to protection from the FedGov by the state and then it’s good to go. Even if the FedGov cannot be watched 24 hours per day, after arrest of innocent victims of this new law the state can decide to enter FedGov facilities to regain control of the victims and arrest said agents.
It’s all about who is willing to flex their muscle enough. And by the way, this sort of thing is exactly why the FedGov fears the new Missouri law prohibiting the ATF from interfering with the 2A in that state. It has teeth because it’s backed by state and local law enforcement under threat of firing and never again being able to work as a LEO in Missouri.
On October 6, 2022 at 8:27 am, Frank Clarke said:
I crack enamel off my teeth every time I read something like “…a machinegun made in the State of Texas and that has not traveled in interstate commerce cannot be regulated by the Federal Government under the interstate commerce clause.”
First the I/C clause was intended to grant Congress the power to prevent STATES interfering in the free transfer of value, not persons actually transferring value.
Second, it is a fundamental principle of jurisprudence that later law trumps earlier law. if the I/C clause ever gave Congress any power over firearms, the Second Amendment revoked that grant.
It is also provable by direct deduction that the I/C clause is currently misinterpreted. Article I section 8 of the U S Constitution begins “Congress shall have the power to…” and proceeds to list 17 specific things Congress shall have power to do. One of these things is to regulate commerce. If “to regulate commerce” is accepted in its modern interpretation, viz. to micromanage all activity which involves or might conceivably someday involve commerce that has, does, or might in the future involve more than one state, then that is the only power that needs to be granted in I(8), all the others being subsumed within the power to micromanage the economy of the entire United States. Could that have been what the writers intended? “Congress shall have the power to do these 16 things plus anything else that occurs to them”? To ask the question is to know the answer. That’s patently ridiculous!
The verb “to regulate” meant, at the time the Constitution was written, “to adjust for proper operation (like a clock or a machine)”. Congress is here given authority to make commerce happen, not to prevent it happening. Its power is the power to keep states from tossing their shoes into the gearbox. We are supposed to be living in The Free Trade Zone of the United States, and the only reason we’re not is that somebody misinterpreted the I/C clause.
On October 6, 2022 at 9:20 am, PGF said:
Wickard v. Filburn
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wickard_v._Filburn
On October 6, 2022 at 2:40 pm, David Kelly said:
“…if the I/C clause ever gave Congress any power over firearms, the Second Amendment revoked that grant.”
It seems to me that Frank Clarke’s statement is, in its entirety, 100% correct. Factually, historically, philosophically, *spiritually*.
Wickard v. Filburn was clearly wrongly decided and needs to be revisited and overturned. But it is wrong to acquiesce to the idea that its jurisprudence can honestly apply to issues regarding the right to keep and bear arms. As Mr. Clarke states, the Commerce Clause, even when badly transmogrified as in Filburn, was modified by the Bill of Rights. That is an important distinction, especially in light of Bruen, and ought not be dismissed with a casual wave of the hand.
On October 6, 2022 at 3:53 pm, Rocketguy said:
My brother owns a significant fab shop down there and has been approached by politicians about being sort of a test case for this law. I expressed *strong* reservations about him basically committing federal crimes and counting on TX pols to have his back. Having the plan fall apart would be embarrassing for the politicians…and destroy his life.
On October 7, 2022 at 1:41 pm, scott s. said:
Nice, except that nothing prevents you from making a suppressor, you just have to pay the tax. If you think courts or local leo are going to stop the feds from collecting taxes, well good luck with that. See “Whiskey Rebellion”.
On October 7, 2022 at 9:12 pm, Chris said:
They hosed down women and children in Waco from the Air.
Smoke’in afew locals to drive the Point…is childs play for the Pretorian Guard.
One must remember the Administration we are dealing with here.
It Is Not above them. No pun intended.
They are playing to Win (and we mean zero make no mistake), unlike the Dead Elephant Party.
Imo