TYLER (KYTX) -- Some people say the 10th amendment is under attack. That's the law that leaves most rights to individual states, instead of granting them to the federal government.
Two decades after the Brady Bill ruffled more than a few pro-gun feathers, East Texans say states' rights are coming under attack more than ever.
"It's not just when it comes to gun rights," John Franklin of Winona said. "It's all states' rights. We have intrusion into our healthcare now."
Franklin remembers the now 19-year-old fight against the Brady Bill.
"The Brady Bill, in my opinion, was bad law because it did violate the tenth amendment of the constitution," he said.
"The federal government came in and attempted to commandeer the office of Sheriff for federal bidding," former Graham County Arizona Sheriff Richard Mack said.
That just didn't sit well with Mack. His fight stopped other sheriffs from being forced to do background checks on would-be gun owners. He said it violated the 10th amendment's assurance that states have all the rights that don't already belong to the federal government.
Now he uses what he learned in the 1990s to fight for states rights.
"If we do not put the constitution first, America is lost," Mack said.
Mack was in East Texas pushing for strong sheriff candidates--and specifically supporting Chris Green--who will stand up to what some see as President Obama stepping on states' powers.
"The decisions we make in the next few years on everything from debt and taxes to energy and education will have an enormous impact on this country," he said.
Obama's recent battle over health care legislation stirred the pot even more.
"States' rights are being trampled on left and right," Franklin said.
In a lot of ways it all goes back to the Brady Bill, which was ruled mostly constitutional. But gun stores still hear complaints about those background checks.
"I've had a lot of people who get upset," Robert Quates of Lock & Load Gun Range in Tyler said. "They don't want to put their personal information out there."
"The question isn't 'Will the federal government commit incursions in your state and county?' The question is 'Who will stop it?'" Mack said.
