On Friday, the Supreme Court of Wyoming struck down most of what remained of a 1992 ballot initiative imposing term limits on state elected officials:

Friday’s ruling covers the offices of secretary of state, auditor, treasurer and superintendent of public instruction. The court didn’t rule on the question of whether term limits for the office of governor are constitutional. . . . Friday’s decision follows a 2004 Wyoming Supreme Court decision that overturned term limits for state legislators.

Voters approved term limits by initiative in 1992. The court’s ruling on Friday states that qualifications for state offices are spelled out in the Wyoming Constitution and requirements can only be changed by constitutional amendment, not state statute.

Although term limits are often popular with voters, research suggests they have proved counterproductive in the states where they exist. Rather than injecting new blood into the lawmaking process and reducing corruption, term limits lead to less experienced lawmakers who spend much of their time in office learning to do their jobs. As a result, lobbyists often enjoy much more power in states with term limits because they understand policy and the lawmaking process far better than the lawmakers themselves. Indeed, as one early study of term limits suggests, “under term limits, there are more lobbyists, these lobbyists are working harder, their ethical behavior is sometimes worse, and they wield more influence in the legislative process, although this power is more evenly distributed.”

On Thursday, members of the Wyoming state House gave initial approval to a bill that would nullify any gun laws passed by the U.S. Congress pertaining to extended magazine clips or semi-automatic weapons. The move is not only unconstitutional, but it is thus far unnecessary: Congress has yet to pass any new gun laws for Wyoming to attempt to nullify.

Under the Constitution, states are not permitted to pass laws meant to supersede federal legislation. But state Rep. Kendell Kroeker (R) argued that since Congress has not yet passed any gun laws, the nullification measure did not violate the Constitution. “It is clearly a different case than trying to nullify something that’s already in existence,” Kroeker said.

But his colleagues apparently tried to keep the representative in check, with one pointing out, “If we want to make a statement we can do it, but let’s not let’s not pretend that it’s consistent with the Constitution, because it’s not.”

The bill was also amended to make it a misdemeanor charge for a federal employee to attempt to enforce federal gun laws in Wyoming. That’s actually an improvement from the original bill, which called for felony charges. It will now go to the Wyoming Senate where, with a 23-7 Republican majority, it will likely enjoy broad support.

Vice President Joe Biden will not deliver his suggestions for gun violence prevention measures to the President until Tuesday. But, in a move that is as unconstitutional as it is presumptuous, lawmakers in Wyoming have already mounted their effort to block whatever legislative measures Biden might suggest. They aim to nullify any federal law that they do not like, and to create punishments for federal agents who might try to enforce new gun safety measures.

In a bill sponsored by eight representatives and two state senators, the lawmakers stipulate that “any federal law which attempts to ban a semi-automatic firearm or to limit the size of a magazine of a firearm or other limitation on firearms in this state shall be unenforceable in Wyoming.” These two measures have been among Biden’s proposals. The Wyoming bill also makes it a felony to enforce federal gun laws:

Any official, agent or employee of the United States government who enforces or attempts to enforce any act, order, law, statute, rule or regulation of the United States government upon a personal firearm, a firearm accessory or ammunition that is owned or manufactured commercially or privately in Wyoming and that remains exclusively within the borders of Wyoming shall be guilty of a felony. and, upon conviction, shall be subject to imprisonment for not more less than one (1) year and one (1) day or more than five (5) years, a fine of not more than two thousand dollars ($2,000.00) five thousand dollars ($5,000.00), or both[...]

Any federal law, rule, regulation or order created or effective on or after January 1, 2013

shall be unenforceable within the borders of Wyoming if the law, rule, regulation or order attempts to:
(i) Ban or restrict ownership of a semiautomatic firearm or any magazine of a firearm; or
(ii) Require any firearm, magazine or other firearm accessory to be registered in any manner.

There’s just one glaring problem with the legislators’ plan: If the federal government were to pass such measures, the bill would be unconstitutional.

The constitutional theory they are implementing is called “nullification” — where a state nullifies a federal law, in this case gun safety measures. The constitution actually stipulates that federal law “shall be the supreme law of the land.”

But the lawmakers seem to be ignoring that issue. Wyoming State Senator Larry Hicks tells the Washington Examiner that the he believes the measure is constitutional under the tenth and second amendments. His colleague, Rep. Kendell Kroeker adds that, no matter the constitutionality, “I think that its necessary when the federal government violates our rights in the Constitution we have to act.”

This isn’t the first effort by the Wyoming legislature to circumvent federal law. On the state’s ballot in November, lawmakers added a proposed constitutional amendment that would have exempted the state from Obamacare.

Late last month, Wyoming state Rep. Bob Nicholas (R) was arrested following an incident where he kicked and beat his disabled son outside of a restaurant:

Nicholas, 54, was arrested in Boca Grande, Fla., while on vacation after allegedly punching and kicking his 19-year-old mentally disabled son, according to a Lee County Sheriff’s Office report. The document indicates that multiple witnesses outside of a restaurant saw Nicholas hit his son repeatedly with a closed fist, push him onto the sidewalk and then kick him more than five times.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office contacted Nicholas about two hours after the incident in the hotel room where he and his son were staying. A sergeant reported a small blood stain on a bedspread in the room and observed that the victim had redness and welts on his neck and a foot-sized abrasion to the skin around his left ribcage that appeared to have a shoelace pattern to it, the report says. Nicholas was placed under arrest and transported to the Lee County Jail without incident. He was released Nov. 24 on a $20,000 bond.

Nicholas explained his behavior by saying his son, who has a condition similar to autism, was being combative during lunch, and that he needed “corporal punishment.” He has no intentions of resigning. “I don’t think I committed a crime, so why would I?” he said.