Mark,

I do not dispute that the NRA is a more powerful lobby than the IAAI and NAFI combined but I also imagine there are more lobbyist against the NRA than there are against IAAI/NAFI and Fire Investigation in general.

My opinion is that it is not solely a states rights issue as there are several constitutional issues that can come into play that seem to make it a Federal issue in my opinion, including the commerce clause that has been mentioned as well as the “Full Faith and Credit Clause” of Article 4. This clause is designed to have each state recognize public acts, records and judicial proceedings from other states. (I am not, however, a lawyer and I did not sleep at a Holiday Inn last night.)

Commerce Court Decisions

[law2.umkc.edu]

Full Faith and Credit General Info

[www.wisegeek.com]

We do this with driver’s licenses, marriage certificates, divorce decrees, etc. – why not PI licensing?

The Florida law, in particular seems to be troubling based on the residency requirement and they are probably not the only one that has some unreasonable restrictions. (Although I have not reviewed all 50 states yet.)

I also agree that congress may seem to have better things to do but Fire Investigation (and more broadly Forensic Investigation which the government has seemed to take an interest in based on “The Path Forward”) is a pretty big business and other efforts to seek national reciprocity have succeeded or seem to have traction including the pending Right to Carry Reciprocity as well as the previously passed Armored Car reciprocity act (which from what I hear took two tries to pass).

Armored Car Reciprocity Act of 1993

[www.lawserver.com]

I don’t think anyone is or should be against some form of licensing or regulation, it just should not be a burden to do business in every other state in our Union. (It would be nice, however, if the licensing or registration did actually have something to do with the forensic discipline being practiced which is rare in most states.)

There is a lot more research to be done, a lot more ears to bend, and a lot more people that need to be invited to the table but it is certainly a good fight to fight. In my opinion, I do not want to fail due to a lack of effort and I certainly do not want to give up simply because previous efforts have been met with resistance and proved to be unsuccessful.

Thanks

Bobby