Northern Mariana Islands Set to Replace Unconstitutional Gun Laws with More Unconstitutional Gun Laws

By Dean Weingarten

The United State District Court for the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) recently ruled that the island chain’s gun laws — written by a peace corps volunteer in the 1970’s — are unconstitutional. The House and Senate of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands reacted to the Court’s ruling by passing S. B. No. 19-94, “To regulate the possession of firearms in the Commonwealth.” The bill passed the Senate unanimously. The short title is the SAFE Act (Special Act for Firearms Enforcement), perhaps in reference to the infamous New York law of the same name. It has not yet been signed by the Governor. Reading the bill . . .
It’s clear its authors looked at the most restrictive possible language from appellate courts in the circuits most antagonistic to Second Amendment rights. Then combined provisions of those laws, to make it as difficult as possible to possess or use for defensive purposes, any firearms in the CNMI. The authors specifically cite the Cities of Highland Park (a suburb of Chicago), the District of Columbia, and San Francisco as models for their SAFE Act.