Thursday, January 04, 2007
Fairfax, VA - Today, Governor Jennifer Granholm signed into law a two-bill package, backed by the National Rifle Association (NRA), making the "Emergency Powers Protection Act" the law of the land in Michigan (HB 6363 and HB 6364). The new laws prevent local governments from confiscating lawfully owned firearms during declared states of emergency, as witnessed in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.

"The Second Amendment achieved an historic triumph in Michigan today," said Chris W. Cox, NRA's chief lobbyist. "With this signing into law of Michigan's 'Emergency Powers Protection Act', law-abiding Michiganders can rest assured they and their Constitutional freedoms will not suffer the same chaotic fate as those citizens of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. NRA promised to fight to ensure the dismantling of the Second Amendment and the gun confiscations we saw in New Orleans is never repeated anywhere in America, and we are devoted to fulfilling our promise."

In the first year since Hurricane Katrina, state legislatures in Alaska, Idaho, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Virginia and Louisiana passed measures that echo the spirit of Michigan's "Emergency Powers Protection Act".

Last fall, the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate passed a similar federal bill with broad, bipartisan support, which President Bush signed in October 2006.

In December 2006, the Michigan bills received overwhelming, bipartisan support in both chambers, passing 37-1 in the State Senate and unanimously in the State House, 105-0.

"On behalf of thousands of NRA members in Michigan, I want to thank State Rep. Scott Hummel for his leadership and commitment to bringing the "Emergency Powers Protection Act" to passage in both chambers of the legislature. I also want to thank Michigan's Governor, Jennifer Granholm, for signing this fundamental legislation into law," concluded Cox.

The NRA sure knows how to lobby.

The states learned a valuable lesson from Katrina, when government oversteps it's bounds.

This is a good start.

What should also be done is each state should mandate the federal government cannot take contrl of them in an emergency, making a statelaw or local law meaningless

(with no signing statements by Bush).
Bush has already tricked the meaning with national guards being allowed to be controlled by the feds instead of the individual state

What is your avatar?

It's a St. Andrews cross and crown pin made of Scottish agate and sterling silver. A Victorian piece.

Is this a Confederate symbol or emblem?

No...It's of Scottish heritage. I’m a Scotsman on both sides. My family is a sept of Clan Keith and traces it’s lineage to the 11^th Century.



KEITH CLANSMAN'S CREST BADGE

This is why I asked:

Confederate Battle Flags' History-1 (U.S.) Of The St. Andrews Cross Pattern

Keith standard...

Well that could be because so many Scots settled in the Southern United States, eh?

One branch of my family arrived in America in 1732 as a well to do merchant from Glasgow, the other arrived in 1750 because the Duke of Cumberland vowed to hang him as a Jacobite if he laid hands upon him. Both settled in South Carolina as did most Scottish immigrants to America. Both had sons who served in the Revolutionary War, one as a prominent officer in the South Carolina militia. The United States Congress voted a special pension in 1823 to his widow as recognition for his sevice in the war, I got the resolution tucked away in the family history.