Are We Obligated to Obey Unlawful Laws?

I suggest the key idea within the definition of the Supreme Law of the Land is the phrase in Pursuance thereof. What does that word pursuance mean? What is the context of the meaning of the phrase?

Definitions

pursuance | the carrying out or following of some plan, course, or the like; a carrying out or into effect; the act of pursuing or prosecuting; a following out or after

thereof | of that or it; from or out of that origin or cause; from or because of that

constitution | the system of fundamental principles according to which something is governed; the fundamental law of the U.S., put into effect in 1789

Context

Paraphrase: the Laws of the United States which shall be made in carrying out, following after, the Constitution of 1789. The definition of the Supreme Law of the Land legitimizes laws that are enacted, that are made in the carrying out and following after the original text.

The above applies to administrative laws, as well. Executive orders are known as administrative laws. Only the Legislature can make laws. The duty of the executive branch is to carry out the laws created by the legislative branch.

If an executive order is made in carrying out an act of Congress, and the act of Congress follows after the Constitution of 1789, as amended (Article V), the executive order complies with Article VI. An executive order that does not comply, is an unlawful order.

When the British government issued unlawful executive orders that violated British Common Law to restrict the freedoms of the 13 colonies, the colonists had license to fight back with force and that is why they won the war.

The Second Amendment to the Constitution of 1789 explicitly states, “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”. Acts of Congress that infringe on this right are unlawful as are executive orders that likewise infringe on the right to keep and bear arms.

Historical & Biblical References

Acts 5:29
Then Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men [we have no other choice].

Psalm 94:20
Can a throne of destruction be allied with You,
One which frames and devises mischief by decree [under the sacred name of law]?

Exodus 1:15-17
Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah (beauty) and the other named Puah (splendor), “When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” But the midwives feared God [with profound reverence] and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded, but they let the boy babies live.

Romans 13:1-2
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God [granted by His permission and sanction], and those which exist have been put in place by God. Therefore whoever ^[a]resists [governmental] authority resists the ordinance of God. And those who have resisted it will bring judgment (civil penalty) on themselves.

The qualification for obedience to governing authority is this: If the governing authority was actually put in place by God and acts obediently to His will, we are obligated to obey it. If otherwise, we are not. In fact, we must not. If you disagree, I suggest you discuss this with the offspring of the European Jews who survived the Holocaust.

Summary

Per the Tenth Amendment, the States can regulate the ownership and the bearing of arms. Texas, for example:

Article 1, Sec. 23. RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS. Every citizen shall have the right to keep and bear arms in the lawful defense of himself or the State; but the Legislature shall have power, by law, to regulate the wearing of arms, with a view to prevent crime.

Therefore, the governors, county sheriffs, state attorneys general, and the state legislatures are obligated to defend the citizens of the respective states from unlawful federal laws — legislative and administrative — that infringe on our right to keep and bear arms, as the respective state laws direct.

John White
Rockwall, Texas