Missouri has become the latest state to throw down a broad challenge to the enforcement of federal firearms laws, as Republican-controlled state legislatures intensify their fierce political counterattack against Democrats' gun-control proposals.
A bill recently signed by Gov. Mike Parson threatens a penalty of $50,000 against any local police agency that enforces certain federal gun laws and regulations that constitute "infringements" of Second Amendment gun rights.
At least eight other states — Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia — have taken similar action this year, passing laws of varying strength that discourage or prohibit the enforcement of federal gun statutes by state and local agents and officers.
The new law "is about protecting law-abiding Missourians against government overreach and unconstitutional federal mandates," Parson and Attorney General Eric Schmitt said in a letter defending the law on Thursday to the U.S. Justice Department. They said the state would "reject any attempt by the federal government to circumvent the fundamental right Missourians have to keep and bear arms to protect themselves and their property."
In interviews, the bill's sponsors in the Missouri House and Senate acknowledged that the law would most likely have little immediate effect on the current operations of local and state police agencies, since there is little difference between state and federal gun laws in Missouri.
There would be no change to the federal requirement for background checks before buying guns from licensed firearms dealers, they said, and local officers could still aid in federal gun law enforcement operations as long as the person being targeted was also violating a state law.
The GOP lawmakers said their main intent was to guard against the potential of more wide-ranging legislation from Washington, where Democratic lawmakers have proposed a major expansion of background checks, an extension of the time in which federal officials can review purchases and bills to restrict the sale of popular semi-automatic weapons like AR-15s.
"Missouri law almost mirrors federal law currently," said Rep. Jered Taylor, who sponsored the bill in the Missouri House. "So really I think the concern is what's next — what's coming down the road from the federal government?"
With Congress in the hands of Democrats, pro-gun groups like the National Rifle Association are turning to the states. A growing number of GOP-sponsored gun bills are making their way through legislatures, all with the purpose of easing restrictions and oversight in anticipation of President Joe Biden's next moves.
Among the most significant are new laws in Tennessee, Iowa and Texas that now allow most adults to carry firearms without a permit.
Some states are pushing through all-in-one packages. GOP Gov. Greg Gianforte of Montana signed an extensive relaxation of the state's gun laws, including a provision that allows guns to be carried onto university campuses and into the State Capitol.
Critics say the concept enshrined in the new Missouri law and others like it — state laws that attempt to undermine federal ones — is a legally shaky but politically potent strategy deployed in the past in the South to resist anti-slavery and civil rights laws.
"The fire was really lit under my Republican colleagues when Biden was elected — we're back to the whole they-are-coming-for-your-guns thing we saw under Obama," said state Rep. Tracy McCreery, a Democrat from the St. Louis area who opposed the bill.
There is a widespread view among legal scholars, and even some supporters of the Second Amendment Sanctuary strategy, that any attempt to supersede federal law would violate a Constitution clause that says federal law takes precedence over conflicting state laws.
Missouri's law is not merely symbolic, McCreery said. It could make local law enforcement officials "think twice" before fully cooperating with federal law enforcement agencies, for example, in a gun trafficking case.
"A fine of $50,000 for a rural sheriff or a police officer is a huge threat," she said.
