SF 339

as introduced - 88th Legislature (2013 - 2014) Posted on 02/22/2013 08:41am

A resolution
memorializing the President of the United States and Congress to respect and not
violate the second amendment to the United States Constitution.

WHEREAS, the second amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the rights
of Americans to keep and bear arms and shall not be infringed; and

WHEREAS, the second amendment protects the rights of self-defense, defense of others
and defense of the nation, and assumes the rights to hunting and sport shooting; and

WHEREAS, it being "necessary to the security of a free State" meant that the right of the
people to bear arms was, and remains, the ultimate barrier to government tyranny; and

WHEREAS, the lawful possession and use of firearms is a long-standing and time honored
tradition in Minnesota and in the United States; and

WHEREAS, in 2008 the United States Supreme Court, in District of Columbia v. Heller,
affirmed the constitutional rights of individual Americans to keep and bear arms; and

WHEREAS, in 2010 the United States Supreme Court, in McDonald v. City of Chicago,
further affirmed that the second amendment right of an individual to keep and bear arms is
incorporated by the Due Process Clause of the fourteenth amendment and applies to the states; and

WHEREAS, the federal government is a government of limited and delineated powers and
is constrained in its actions by the United States Constitution; and

WHEREAS, many gun control laws implicitly assume the guilt of lawful and responsible
firearms owners with little effect on the ability of criminals to obtain firearms to use them
unlawfully; and

WHEREAS, gun control only ensures that law-abiding citizens are powerless in the face of
criminal threat; NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED that the legislature of the state of Minnesota will act in conformity with
its sworn duties as duly elected officials charged with its citizens' trust, will uphold the second
amendment of the United States Constitution, and will abide by the decisions of the United
States Supreme Court.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislature strongly urges the President of
the United States and the Congress to respect the second amendment to the United States
Constitution, to recognize the multitudes of existing laws related to the manufacture, sale, and
possession of firearms, to reject international treaties that will infringe on American citizens' right
to bear arms, to not violate the rights of law-abiding citizens while deliberating and acting on
any proposed legislation or executive actions concerning firearms, and to acknowledge that in
order to combat gun violence, the country must enforce existing laws and effectively punish
and deter those who commit violent crimes.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the State of Minnesota is
directed to prepare copies of this memorial and transmit them to the President of the United States,
the Speaker and the Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, the President and the
Secretary of the United States Senate, and Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in Congress.