Many Americans see conservative states as the last frontier where freedom isn’t just a punchline. Leftists, however, flock to larger metropolitan areas of these states, bringing with them the same morally corrupt values that ruined their overtaxed, high-crime and heavily regulated former cities. Asserting the same agendas on their new pristine and liberty-minded community, they make it as undesirable as where they came from, similar to a swarm of locusts. Fargo was in danger of becoming one of those places where the chipping away of self-determination through the prohibition of firearms and ammunition sales in residential zones was only recently struck down by the North Dakota Supreme Court.
The Fargo ordinance had been in place for several years but was struck down in the last days of 2024. The North Dakota Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s finding that the ordinance violates state law adopted during the 2023 session prohibiting local governments from instituting zoning regulations related to the “purchase, sale, ownership, possession, transfer of ownership, registration, or licensure of firearms and ammunition.”
In response to the 2023 state law, the city of Fargo sued the state, arguing that it was an unconstitutional violation of local control. A district court judge threw out the lawsuit in February 2024, concluding that the law does not violate local government rights and that Fargo’s ordinance could not be lawfully enforced.
The city then appealed the decision to the North Dakota Supreme Court, and arguments were presented by both parties in a September hearing. Peter Zuger, an attorney representing the city, leaned on a “slippery slope” argument. He warned that allowing state law to repeal the ordinance would damage Fargo’s ability to self-govern, citing a provision in the North Dakota constitution granting political subdivisions the right to exercise “maximum local self-government.”
Courtney Titus, representing the state, countered using reason and logic, stating that the constitution does not allow for completely autonomous local governments, arguing that the state Legislature still determines the scope of local law.
On December 19, the North Dakota Supreme Court published its opinion conferring with the district court. Quoting from the state constitution, “Each political subdivision shall have and exercise such powers as provided by law,” the opinion highlights language that clearly empowers the state Legislature with authority to define the extent of law-making autonomy granted to local governments.
This is a typical leftist maneuver at the state and local level, claiming they can rewrite the law of the land by the authority of state and local government rights. Liberties guaranteed by the Constitution can not be done away with in this manner, however, we have seen this tyranny exercised in Democrat states with impunity. Perhaps it’s time conservatives play by the same rules, and if the leftists don’t like it, they can head to the coasts or wherever their brand of parasite is welcome.
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