Originally published April 30 2013
Colorado bill will give Secret Service agents police powers, right to arrest
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) Increasingly, states are beginning to distinguish themselves either as bastions of liberty and freedom, like Texas and Arizona, or lackeys for big government federalism like California and New York.
For the record, we can officially add Colorado to the latter list, as the state has been taken over by first-generation radicals and left-wing "progressives" who favor laws that infringe on the Second Amendment but who don't care enough about protecting children to pass "Jesse's Law."
In late March WorldNetDaily reported that a measure headed to Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, "would give members of the Secret Service broad arrest powers in the state and could provide a framework for federal agents eventually to enforce gun restrictions." The measure, SB13-013, called "The Secret Service Limited Peace Officer Authority," was signed by the government April 19, along with a dozen other measures [http://www.colorado.gov].
There's a new cop in town - the Secret Service
Critics of the measure said what it does is essentially abdicate more state power and authority to the federal government, as pointed by Matthew Hess, the Libertarian Party candidate for Colorado governor.
"SB13-013 is a bad idea. This bill creates a police force in Colorado that has no local accountability or even oath of office," he said in an April 9 statement.
"We cannot expect people who have sworn no oath to properly uphold our laws. Unfortunately, this bill can even extend police powers to private contractors working for the Secret Service," Hess said. "Would we tolerate a Blackwater security firm acting as Colorado law enforcement? I certainly would not and neither should you if you value the separation of powers and division of power between the states and federal government."
State Rep. Lori Saine, R-Dacono, called the measure "insane."
"In theory if a Secret Service agent is in a county where the sheriff has refused to enforce some of the recent unenforceable gun laws, the agent could arrest an individual if he believes the law has been broken," she said.
WND noted that the law aligns with an agenda being pursued by President Obama that imposes vast new restrictions and regulations on guns and gun ownership. In the wake of last week's defeat in the U.S. Senate of new gun control measures that included universal background checks and a ban on scores of semi-automatic rifles, Obama scolded senators who did not support the measures as both Vice President Biden and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said the president would be using executive orders to impose some new restrictions - though they weren't specific about that they would include.
Will the Secret Service usurp Colorado sheriffs?
"Look, I know you're going to say that I'm just being an optimist and I'm trying to put a good face on this. But, you know, I've been around here a long time and we've already done, because of you, some really good things," Biden reportedly told a number of gun control "stakeholders" on a conference call a day after the Senate failed to pass the new measures. "Number one, the president is already lining up some additional executive actions he's going to be taking later this week."
"I always knew it would be an uphill battle - and the battle certainly isn't over. I believe the American people are far ahead of where their elected officials are on this issue, and I will continue to fight for a renewed ban on assault weapons," Feinstein vowed in a newspaper column published Apr. 17 in the New York Daily News.
The concern in Colorado that Secret Service agents may be used to enforce newly implemented anti-gun laws there surrounds statements made by a number of county sheriffs that they have no intention of enforcing the new measures because they believe them to be unconstitutional.
Weld County Sheriff John Cooke said he and other sheriffs are considering filing a lawsuit to block the new laws, which he has called "feel-good, knee-jerk reactions that are unenforceable."
One such measure requires private gun sellers to perform background checks on individuals who want to buy their gun in a private transaction, but Cooke says it is impossible to track and verify that.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.thenewamerican.com
http://www.wnd.com
http://www.matthewhess.org
http://www.buzzfeed.com
http://www.nydailynews.com
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