Save America Convention- Sheriff Mack explains state’s rights

Published On: Tue, Mar 22nd, 2011

Save America Convention- Sheriff Mack explains state’s rights

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Constitution freedom John Chambers Justice Scalia Mack/Printz v USA Save America Convention Save America Foundation Sheriff Mack Supreme Court The Desk of Brian

The Save America Convention’s all-star lineup included a speech by Arizona’s Sheriff Mack on Friday night.

For those individuals not familiar with Sheriff Mack, he was the Graham County, Arizona sheriff from 1988-1996. In January 1994 the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) sent all 15 Arizona county sheriff’s their interpretation of the Brady Bill. If the sheriff’s did not enforce this horrible interpretation, then they could be placed in jail for up to a year.

As a result of the BATF demands, Sheriff Mack decided to look into what the feds were up to. Something didn’t feel right to him, and this is where his journey started. On February 28, 1994 Sheriff Mack filed suit against the Federal government, in an effort to prevent the enforcement of the Brady Bill.

Mack continued explaining his story in great detail, adding humor as needed to overcome the seriousness of his battle with a tyrannical government.

“Hey, I sued the Clinton administration and lived to tell about it,” said Mack.

Finally in 1996, Justice Scalia of the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of Mack and the rights of our states and ultimately, the people. His story was one of liberty, freedom and state sovereignty; all three of these serving as the foundation for his lawsuit against the Clinton administration.

Sheriff Mack then detailed the role and importance of our local sheriff, a role that he feels Constitutionally belongs to the states, not the Federal government. He begged us to find out if our local sheriff “is willing to protect me from tyranny.” A question that I am sure most of the audience would have never considered.

“You might be waiting for Barack Obama to pick the state sovereignty czar but don’t. It’s not going to happen,” Mack jokingly said.

In the end, Sheriff Mack offered up a lecture based on history of the US Constitution and how it applies to state’s rights, more specifically state sovereignty. He armed us not with guns, but instead with knowledge. However, he recommends them to protect us from the tyranny of government and power hungry officials.

In the words of Justice Scalia, “But the Constitution protects us from our own best intentions: It divides power among sovereigns and among branches of government precisely so that we may resist the temptation to concentrate power in one location as an expedient solution to the crisis of the day.”