Rep. Jason Chafettz of Utah introduced H.R. 4751, or the “Local Enforcement for Local Lands Act of 2016,” on March 16th in hopes of ridding the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) of its law enforcement functions. This bill comes after the Bundy Ranch incident of 2014 and after the BLM killed Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, who occupied federal land in Oregon.
The bill pushes to eliminate the law enforcement branches of the BLM and the Forest Service, and to give block grants to states for law enforcement on Federal land “within a State and included within the National Forest System, including the National Grasslands.” If it were signed into law, then no later than September 30, 2017 the law enforcement branches of the two agencies would be eliminated and neither would be allowed to use their employees for the purpose of law enforcement.
Additionally, in place of the law enforcement of those two agencies, the states would be given block grants “to maintain law and order on Federal land, protect individuals and property on Federal land, and enforce Federal law.” These block grants could also be subgrants given to localities.
These grants would be given to states or localities beginning in the fiscal year of 2018.The size of these grants would be determined by two factors; they are (1) percentage of federal land and (2) visitation levels.
While local and state law enforcement are infamous for their lack of accountability and violence, this bill would help many people. Local and state law enforcement are more accountable than the BLM and Forest Service. The average citizen can affect state and local politics, but the average citizen has nearly no control over federal agencies.
Furthermore, if another situation would arise similar to what happened recently in Oregon or what happened at the Bundy Ranch, then those opposing unjustified laws concerning federal lands and the said laws’ enforcement would only be up against the state and localities instead of the monster that is the federal government. A state would have more urgency in resolving the conflict, and they would not be able to be as violent as the BLM without serious political repercussions.
It should also be noted that this bill could be game changing as it will cause a major power shift from the federal government to the state governments, where the power truly belongs. This shift in power has trended for the past few years with the increasing popularity of nullification. The federal government owns the majority of land in 5 different states and quite a bit of land in many other states, so this bill would be a huge shift in power as those states would gain control over the law and order of those federal lands. Hopefully this trend is indicative of future trends in U.S. politics.
The BLM is infamous for its abuse of power and manipulation of land owners surrounding the BLM’s land. The key to remedying this issue is not reformation of the BLM, it is decentralization down to the individual. Remove the politics and the power of the government agents over the lands, and you will see more peaceful and economic use of those resources.
By Nicholas Sinard – DontComply.com
5 Comments
Arden Jones
Sorry you guys are so butt hurt. Maybe stop doing illegal things? You’re a bunch of thugs in fake cowboy hats.
Dan Toural
Young punks don’t have a clue……..IT’S NOT THE BLM’s LAND AND CATTLE TO STEAL! When the police take all your shit and toss you out into the street, because they made up a law you didn’t even know about, you will piss and moan then, won’t you?
Arden Jones
I don’t do stupid illegal stuff so that isn’t a big concern of mine.
Dan Toural
The Federal Government took thousands of acres of land illegally. The Constitution says how much of a States land it can have. They can’t just claim it all for themselves. Then forbid people on it. Cows on it. Roads and ponds on it. Charge millions in fines and put people in prison, because they were there before the Government stole it from the State. Nothing was illegal until the Government moved in and said it was. It’s not stupid and illegal to try to protect what was yours all your life. The biggest problem these days is that punks who grew up spoon fed by their mommies really don’t give a shit about what the Government is doing. They’re screwing us day by day, and you don’t care.
DrBubba
Good start! Next we need to get rid of police powers of the DEA, BATF, Dept of Agriculture, IRS, and many others. There should be only 1 federal policing agency if even 1. U.S. Marshals.