Thursday 11 June 2015

Do you agree with the US Supreme Court's view that Congress does not have the legislative power to create gun-free school zones and that this power...

To answer your question, you will have to decide whether the federal government's authority exceeds that of individual state governments in regards to gun laws. It certainly is a controversial issue. 


In United States v. Lopez, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Congress could not use the Commerce Clause to justify its prohibition of guns in school zones. The Supreme Court argued that gun violence was not a subset of interstate commerce. 


Those...

To answer your question, you will have to decide whether the federal government's authority exceeds that of individual state governments in regards to gun laws. It certainly is a controversial issue. 


In United States v. Lopez, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Congress could not use the Commerce Clause to justify its prohibition of guns in school zones. The Supreme Court argued that gun violence was not a subset of interstate commerce. 


Those who argue that gun issues should be decided by individual states cite the Tenth Amendment as the basis of their claims:



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. 



To date, at least nine states have passed what are called nullification laws, which assert that individual states have the power to reject any federal law they consider unconstitutional. However, a federal judge ruled in early 2017 that Kansas cannot nullify federal gun laws. The judge likely based his decision on what is called the Supremacy Clause in the Constitution, which allows federal law to supersede state law.


So, this certainly is a very controversial issue. To answer your question, you will have to decide:


1) Whether the Supremacy Clause supersedes the Tenth Amendment.


2) Whether concealed-carry teachers and students are a danger or a help during a gun attack on a school. This is a very sensitive topic.


3) Whether Congress is right in arguing that prohibiting guns in a school zone is a federal prerogative under the Commerce Clause. The Commerce Clause allows the federal government to regulate commerce among the states and commerce between America and other nations.

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