The NRA - with friends like these...

[JAB]

15 hours ago, monkeylizard said:

Yep. Even if they don't directly dictate it, they can coerce the states to setup carry the way the Fed wants it done.

.Gov: "What's that Tennessee? You're not going to require annual re-certification with a minimum of 40 hours of training time per year like we asked? OK....how about we withhold $200 million from your Medicare (or roads, or education, or whatever) funding? Oh ... what's that? You DO want to comply with that request? That's a good little boy. Now run along and play in the street some more."

That's exactly how we get fairly uniform seat belt and Interstate highway speed limit laws across all 50 states. This wouldn't be any different.

I don't want F-Troop anywhere near this.

Yep.  And for those who think your statement is a 'stretch' let us recall that the federal government, during the Reagan administration, used the threat of withholding federal funding for highways, etc. to force states to raise the legal drinking age to 21 (the guy often supported anti-gun legislation even as far back as when he was Governor of California in the 1960s, granted amnesty to illegal immigrants and supported the use of a threat to withhold federal funding to get the federal government involved in what was supposed to be a state decided issue - tell me, again, why he is considered to be the ultimate conservative Republican instead of a RINO?)  This was presented to be a way to stop drunk driving.  Of course people between the ages of 18 and 21 were not solely responsible for the drunk driving problem, not everyone between the ages of 18 and 21 who chose to (at the time) legally drink were driving drunk and changing the legal drinking age so that a portion of legal adults could no longer legally purchase alcohol didn't stop the problem but I guess that at least the fedgov could point to it and say that they 'did something'.  How did Reagan justify the fedgove usurping the states' rights?  Well, he apparently called the problem a 'national tragedy', brought up that it involved transit 'across state borders' and was quoted as saying, "In a case like this, where the problem is so clear cut and the benefits are so clear cut, then I have no misgivings about a judicious use of Federal inducements to encourage the states to get moving, raise the drinking age, and save precious lives."

So, when the fedgov is put into a position where they want to be seen as 'doing something', think how easily another politician could basically repeat the above statement but instead say, ''In a case like this, where the problem is so clear cut and the benefits are so clear cut, then I have no misgivings about a judicious use of Federal inducements to encourage the states to get moving, institute much more stringent requirements to qualify for a carry permit, and save precious lives."

I remembered Congress and the Reagan administration using these strongarm tactics to force states to change state laws.  However, I was in middle school at the time so it was good to have a source to ensure I was remembering correctly.  That source was: http://www.nytimes.com/1984/06/21/nyregion/reagan-calls-for-drinking-age-of-21.html

Edited October 11, 2017 by JAB