So, what becomes of Printz v. United States?

In ruling that the Second Amendment applies to the State as the Court announced today in McDonald, the concept that when it comes to gun regulations States are a separate and independent sovereignty as Scalia discusses in the majority opinion does become muddled.

However, Scalia preemptively addressed this point in noting that in New York v. United States in 1992, the Court noted that while Congress may have near exclusive federal jurisdiction under the constitution to regulate an activity under the interstate commerce clause, the federal constitution does not confer Congress the power to compel the States’ to forbid or regulate such interstate activities.  Direct regulation by the federal government is required.  Anything less violates the federal constitutional concept of a unitary executive (this is not the concept of unitary executive as understood and expressed by the Bush/Cheney Administration, but a far more benign conceptualization.)  Therefore, just because a federal court can declare a State’s attempt to regulate firearms as unconstitutional, that doesn’t mean that Congress can commandeer the State government to enforce its federal regulatory scheme.

http://www.plunderbund.com/2010/06/28/so-what-becomes-of-printz-v-united-states/