Gary asked:
"Rick,
Am I wrong in thinking that the founding fathers designed it so that the Fed govt would have VERY limited police powers? "
At one time I thought that was just a bunch of Freeman hooey. But there is was in the Spring 1995 Tennessee Law Review. It was a rather long except of Congressional testimonly from 1930 on proposed handgun control. The assistant Atty General said that much of what was proposed was unconstitutional due to the fact that the Fed had no police power. (!!!) You can imagine my surprise when I found basic "Freeman" doctrine being parrotted in a Law Journal.
Later in the excerpt is an interesting exchange when they begin to mull over the "taxing power" as a way to get around the constitutional bar.
If any of you would like to read this stuff, you can probably still get a copy of this "Second Amendment Symposium" from NRA (they ordered 6,000 copies), Tennessee Law School, they had about 200 copies left about three years ago, and maybe GOA and JPFO as well. I remember one of the Brassroots boys (maybe Sajack(?)) buying numerous copies at the 1997 Gun Rights Policy Conference. They should be under $10 and will afford you a few hundred pages of delight.
Rick