La. House Passes Bill To Block Federal Government From Placing Ban On Semi-Automatic Weapons

Oil City Republican Representative Jim Morris' bill has been approved by the full La. House.

Morris' bill, which seeks to be "a hurdle" that blocks the federal government form placing a ban on semi-automatic weapons or having large capacity magazines in Louisiana, is now headed to the La. Senate for committee review. About a week ago, the legislation passed the La. House Criminal Justice Committee by a 9 to 6 vote, despite strong opposition from New Iberia Rep. Terry Landry (D) and other democrats.

But this vote wasn't nearly as close, passing by a 67-25 vote. The debate was long and heated, though, with many Democrat House members challenging people's need to own such guns.

Morris says a law on Louisiana's books would force the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of the federal legislation. But, democrats questioned the bill's ability to withstand a legal challenge (At issue has been whether this bill would violate the Supremacy clause in the Constitution, which says a state law can’t precede a federal law). But Bossier City Rep. Jeff Thompson (R) sees this as a positive:

I believe what this will do is prompt a discussion in the judicial branch of ‘Is a law from the federal government simply constitutional because the legislative body passes it’?