I note that the governor has signed a bill that “forbids state and local law enforcement from enforcing federal bans on guns, ammunition and magazines.“ Detractors – folks who want the gun control efforts to grow in Montana are quoted as saying that this “would make it difficult for local law enforcement to collaborate with federal authorities on issues beyond gun access when such collaboration is essential to protect public safety.”
There are times it is good to be old, and have a long memory. Back when the first Assault Weapons Ban was law, Ravalli County Sheriff Jay Printz challenged it as unconstitutional. Sheriff Printz thought it was wrong for congress to compel state employees and elected officials to enforce Federal law.
District court agreed with Printz, then the 9th Circuit reversed the decision, and it went to the Supreme Court. On June 27, 1997, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, reversed the 9th Circuit, finding that the ban’s attempt to commandeer county sheriffs to perform background checks was in violation of the tenth amendment.
Remember, I’m a scientist, not a lawyer – but it looks to me like a Hamilton Sheriff, nearly a quarter century ago, has already completed the legal defense for “Montana Federal Firearm, Magazine, and Ammunition Ban Enforcement Prohibition Act”. The complete bill is available. It does reference the Printz case, and it looks like state and local employees will not be allowed to assist Federal officers in enforcing this law.
Trego's Mountain Ear 