TexasCHLforum.com

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Faced with the prospect of new federal gun restrictions, the Wyoming House gave initial approval Wednesday to bills that sponsors say would exempt guns in the state from new regulations while possibly taking the fight to criminals who might choose to attack public schools.

The House voted in favor of a bill that would seek to block the federal government from restricting assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. It amended the bill to specify that federal officials who tried to enforce any ban would be subject to state misdemeanor charges instead of felony charges.

PHOENIX — A Republican-sponsored bill barring enforcement of new federal guns laws sparked passionate debate in an Arizona Senate committee that ultimately passed the bill Wednesday.

The party-line vote moved the first of several anti-gun control bills introduced in the Legislature to the floor on the same day the U.S. Congress heard a plea from former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords to pass new gun control laws.

The bill co-sponsored by state Sen. Don Shooter, four other senators and several members of the House of Representatives would bar enforcement of new federal laws affecting semi-automatic firearms or high-capacity magazines. It also makes any federal official trying to enforce such laws guilty of a felony and allows the state Attorney General to defend anyone prosecuted for violating federal gun laws if the gun was made in Arizona, among other provisions.