Joe Scarborough: “again, the fundamental purpose of this bill is to provide the attorney general of any State with the authority to bring…”

“again, the fundamental purpose of this bill is to provide the attorney general of any State with the authority to bring a civil action in the United States district court to enjoin any person or entity that the attorney general has a reasonable cause to believe is engaged in any act that would constitute a violation of State law regulating the importation or transportation of intoxicating liquor. Now, the fundamental purpose of this amendment is again to expand the single class of merchandise covered by the bill from intoxicating liquor to now adding another class of merchandise, which is firearms to the one class covered by the bill. Secondly, it makes absolutely no sense because it adds an unrelated contingency in the final line when, again, reading the amendment, it says: 'This Act and the amendment made by this act shall take immediate effect with regard to any violation of a State law regulating the importation or transportation of any intoxicating liquor which results from any violation of a State's firearms laws.' Now that is clearly, clearly, an unrelated contingency. Also, I think it is very important to understand that what we are doing here is we are commingling again two issues. Instead of the single issue of alcohol that is being illegally shipped across State lines, we are actually talking about gun sales or the transporting of guns inside of a State.”