§ 21-1-902 — Legislative findings

The General Assembly finds that: (1) The State of Arkansas is firmly resolved to support and defend the United States Constitution against every aggression, either foreign or domestic, and the General Assembly is duty bound to watch over and oppose every infraction of those principles that constitute the basis of the United States because only a faithful observance of those principles can secure the nation's existence and the public happiness; (2) Acting through the United States Constitution, the people of the several states created the United States Government to be their agent in the exercise of a few defined powers, while reserving to the state governments the power to legislate on matters that concern the lives, liberties, and properties of citizens in the ordinary course of affairs; (3) The limitation of the United States Government's power is affirmed under the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which defines the total scope of federal power as being that which has been delegated by the people of the several states to the United States Government, and all power not delegated to the United States Government in the United States Constitution is reserved to the states respectively, or to the people themselves; (4) Whenever the United States Government assumes powers that the people did not grant it in the United States Constitution, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force; (5) (A) The several states of the United States are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to the United States Government. (B) The United States Government created by the United States Constitution is not the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers granted to it by the United States Constitution, because that would have made the United States Government's discretion, and not the United States Constitution, the measure of those powers. (C) To the contrary, as in all other cases of compacts among powers having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge itself, as well as infractions and the mode and measure of redress. (D) (i) Although the several states have granted supremacy to laws and treaties made under the powers granted in the United States Constitution, such supremacy does not apply to various federal statutes, orders, rules, regulations, or other actions that restrict or prohibit the manufacture, ownership, and use of firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition exclusively within the borders of Arkansas. (ii) Such statutes, orders, rules, regulations, and other actions exceed the powers granted to the United States Government except to the extent that they are necessary and proper for the United States Government and regulation of the land and naval forces of the United States Armed Forces or for the organizing, arming, and disciplining of militia forces actively employed in the service of the United States Armed Forces; (6) The people of the several states have given the United States Congress the power "to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes", but regulating commerce does not include the power to limit citizens' right to keep and bear arms in defense of their families, neighbors, persons, or property or to dictate what sort of arms and accessories law-abiding, mentally competent Arkansas citizens may buy, sell, exchange, or otherwise possess within the borders of this state; (7) (A) The people of the several states have also given the United States Congress the power "to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States" and "to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution . the powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof". (B) (i) These federal constitutional provisions merely identify the means by which the United States Government may execute its limited powers and ought not to be so construed as themselves to give unlimited powers because to do so would be to destroy the balance of power between the United States Government and the state governments. (ii) The General Assembly denies any claim that the taxing and spending powers of the United States Congress can be used to diminish in any way the people's right to keep and bear arms; and (8) The people of Arkansas have vested the General Assembly with the authority to regulate the manufacture, possession, exchange, and use of firearms within this state's borders, subject only to the limits imposed by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and Arkansas Constitution, Article 2, § 5.

Legislative History

Added by Act 2021, No. 1012,§ 1, eff. 7/28/2021.