When the public hears about a state passing a new gun law, many Americans probably assume it refers to Democrats in a blue state taking steps to prevent gun violence. In 2021, however, it was Missouri Republicans who approved a rather extraordinary gun law, that the Justice Department considered wildly unconstitutional.
Yesterday, as The New York Times reported, a judge agreed with federal law enforcement over GOP officials in the Show Me State.
A federal judge in Kansas City on Tuesday struck down a Missouri law that restricted local and state law enforcement agencies in carrying out federal gun laws, ruling that the statute violated the Constitution and posed a grave threat to public safety. Judge Brian C. Wimes of the Western District of Missouri ruled that the Second Amendment Protection Act, passed in 2021 by the Republican-controlled state legislature, represented a blatant attempt to illegally usurp the federal government’s constitutional right to enforce federal laws without state interference.
In case anyone needs a refresher, let’s revisit our earlier coverage and review how we arrived at this point, because I’ve long believed there’s a larger significance to this case.
It was a couple of years ago when Missouri’s Republican governor, Mike Parson, appeared at a gun store to sign a bill designed to discourage enforcement of federal gun laws. In fact, the state measure empowered private citizens to sue local police departments for $50,000 for incidents in which the police enforced laws that allegedly infringed on the Second Amendment.
The same GOP law said the state wouldn’t enforce federal gun laws that exceed state gun laws.
If you’re thinking, “Wait, states can’t do that,” then you agree with the Justice Department, which filed a lawsuit that made an important argument: States can’t declare “invalid” federal gun regulations they don’t like.
“This act impedes criminal law enforcement operations in Missouri,” Attorney General…
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