Jeremy Kettler was charged with illegal possession of a suppressor made under the authority of the “Second Amendment Protection Act” of Kansas. (Photo: GOA)
Gun Owners of America along with the Gun Owners Foundation (the GOA and GOF) are filing an appeal in the Tenth Circuit court that could have an effect on how the National Firearms Act is applied.
They’re joining the appeal filed by Jeremy Kettler after he was charged with illegal possession of a suppressor in 2014. Kettler, a Kansas resident, believed he was legally purchasing a suppressor under Kansas law which states that suppressors made in Kansas aren’t subject to federal law as long as they stay in-state.
Kettler, believing he was following the law, posted a video about his Kansas-made suppressor to Facebook and the ATF immediate swung by. Instead of simply requiring that Kettler follow federal law and register the suppressor, they arrested him.
“Rather than simply requiring Jeremy to register his suppressor, the feds instead chose felony prosecution,” said the GOA in a statement, “to make an example of Jeremy, and to intimidate all who resist federal power over guns. Jeremy was indicted, and convicted of possessing an unregistered silencer, and now this veteran is a federal felon.”
“Today GOA and GOF lawyers, representing Jeremy, filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the Court to hear Jeremy’s case,” said GOA. “The petition challenges the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, which rejected Jeremy’s appeal from the district court.”
“Jeremy’s petition first challenges the legitimacy of the National Firearms Act, which was passed in 1934, and thereafter upheld by the Supreme Court in 1937 under the constitutional power of Congress to ‘lay and collect taxes,'” explains GOA. “The petition argues that the NFA as it exists today no longer can be justified as a so-called ‘tax.'”
Typically higher courts have struck down laws that levy taxes on basic rights. The Second Amendment, however, has been frequently overlooked.
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“Despite the clarity with which we described the Second Amendment’s core protection for the right of self-defense,” wrote Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Clarence Thomas in a 2015 dissent, “lower courts, including the ones here, have failed to protect it. Second Amendment rights are no less protected by our Constitution than other rights enumerated in that document.”
“The right to keep and bear arms is apparently this Court’s constitutional orphan,” said Thomas in a 2018 dissent. “And the lower courts seem to have gotten the message.”
“GOA and GOF truly hope that this trend in the Supreme Court, to allow the lower courts to disregard the Heller and McDonald decisions, will begin to change, now that the Court has another solidly conservative member — who, as a judge on the D.C. Circuit, was unafraid to apply the Second Amendment text and the Heller decision to uphold gun rights,” said the gun rights groups.
“Jeremy Kettler’s petition presents solid, well-argued questions important to all gun owners, and we hope the Court will grant certiorari to decide them,” added the GOA.
Good luck with that. The Supreme Court has always been amazingly weak on the Second Amendment, even when they deign to hear the cases. Even when there is a decision the lack of enforcement allows further infringement. As an example;
“The claim and exercise of a Constitutional right cannot be converted into a crime”…”No state shall convert a liberty into a privilege, license it, and attach a fee to it”.
Miller v. U.S., U.S. Supreme Court. 319 U.S. 105 (1943).
Maybe someone should post pictures of all of the pot stores in this county on Facebook.
After all they are federally illegal.
I understand your point but, turning on other Americans and further limiting our freedoms while letting government have MORE power over any of us is WRONG and SHAMEFUL.
More freedoms and less government… that what America was meant to be…. FREE!
Looks like he’s the scape goat here. Kansas law can’t trump federal law. Looks like the feds are showing Kansas what’s up, not necessarily Kettler… he’s just caught in the middle. Seems like they would have just confiscated the silencer and given him a fine, since he didn’t commit a crime with it and there is (is there?) a state law authorizing the suppressor. The beef should be with the Kansas government, not an individual. THAT should be the argument in court.
Frankly, the issue is with states that pass laws such as these without providing the teeth necessary to uphold them.
Kansas should have simply sent state law enforcement to arrest all of the ATF agents on sight and imprisoned them all for life, without parole.
Any law forbiding the enforcement of a federal statute (and constitutionally there is a good basis for such) should have a penalty clause. However, no state legislature with a collective, average IQ anywhere above room temperature would legislate a penalty clause of “life imprisonment without parole” for such a law. Likewise, no governor would sign such into law. If such were enacted, it would take any appeals court, much less the Supreme Court about six minutes of deliberation to overturn such a sentence.
If you are just venting spleen, you have the right. If you are making an actual suggestion, a stiff fine and reasonable jail sentence (say six months) might be a real deterrent to federal agents from going unreasonably far in their enforcement activities.
“Kansas law can’t trump federal law.” That is simply NOT true. Federal agencies do not have state powers. Due to the Constitution’s structure of dual sovereignty, the feds have no authority to enforce state laws. Furthermore, states cannot be compelled to enforce federal laws.
Exactly. Besides that, this would be federal law trumps federal law. The 1st section of the 14th Amendment clearly states that states cannot make or ENFORCE laws that abridge the rights guaranteed by the bill of rights.
That right there makes the NFA regs unconstitutional. The only place it could be enforced would be DC. The founding fathers made the 2nd Amendment an umbrella law for a reason. They knew technology advancement would allow government forces to have better weapons, and in turn, the citizens would have access to the same.
What about the assimilated crimes act? Im pretty sure it allows federal law enforcement to enforce state law.
And yet state law allows for all kinds of infringement into the 2nd… not to mention that states across the nation now selling and consume marijuana…. or how about the total lack of immigration enforcement and letting illegal immigrants VOTE FOR F#CK SAKE!!
So it seems that state law trumps federal law anytime it leans left but not so if the law leans right…. interesting
Well they can take it to the SCOTUS, but there is not a solid majority. Chief Justice John Roberts has often sided in the past with leftists. I wouldn’t trust him to deliver a favorable ruling to the second. They should have waited ’till RBG keels over.
Gun owners in Illinois could use everyone’s help. New governor of Illinois is going after our semis(AR/AK’s). Please help. Thank you!
WELL WELL! isn’t he wearing a military uniform? and isn’t that a rolled up military blanket on that military back pack and oh the horror, aren’t those children near him? while he talks to, heaven forfend Fox news? this is just to much, I think I just pooped my pants.
It is from a deployment welcome home ceremony. Use your internet to learn.
Learn to recognize sarcasm dude…