Since Democrat Joe Biden took over the White House as our 46th president, talk of putting more gun control measures in place has only increased. In the few short months since January, Biden has made several speeches encouraging that such laws and regulations be pushed forward.
On the third anniversary of the Parkland school shooting, for instance, he announced that his administration and Democratic politicians would be proposing three specific initiatives to limit gun use in the United States.
One would ban what he and his comrades refer to as “assault weapons” and “high-capacity magazines.” Another would put a universal background check system into place, and the last would put much stricter limitations on gun manufacturers.
However, should any of these measures pass, the state of Missouri is prepared to make sure that they aren’t enforced within the state’s borders. Or at least not by local law enforcement.
On Thursday, Missouri’s Republican Governor Mike Parson announced that he would soon be signing the “Second Amendment Preservation Act” into law.
According to the bill, several specific “federal acts, laws, executive orders, administrative orders, rules, and regulations shall be considered infringements on the people’s right to keep and bear arms, as guaranteed by Amendment II of the Constitution of the United States and Article I, Section 23 of the Constitution of Missouri.”
Basically, the law would make any law or regulation that “might reasonably be expected to create a chilling effect on the purchase or ownership of those items by law-abiding citizens” unenforceable in the state. This includes any laws that impose fees or taxes for firearms and ammunition, limitations on gun sales or transfers, and increases to registration and tracking of firearms, as well as confiscations of guns.
While any new laws put in place by the Biden administration may be enforced by federal officials, state and local law enforcement will be barred from doing the same. In addition, any federal officer who enforced those laws will be banned from employment in the state of Missouri by local police.
And should local or state police try to enforce such laws, they can be sued for up to $50,000.
The measure is something that conservatives in the state have been pushing for some time, nearly a decade in fact. But with increased talk of gun control and such in Washington, lawmakers in the state have renewed their interest in pushing it forward.
In the state’s House of Representatives, the bill was passed with a 110 to 43 vote, and in the Senate, 24 to 10.
And now that it’s passed in both houses, the bill will be set before Governor Parson for signing. The signing is to take place on Saturday, June 19, at a shooting range ceremony in Lee’s Summit.
As Republican state Senator Eric Burlison told the Kansas City Star, “We’re just simply saying we’re not going to lift a finger to enforce their rules.”
Parson’s spokeswoman, Kelli Jones, said in a statement, “The Governor is aware of the legal implications of this bill, but also that, now more than ever, we must define a limited role for federal government in order to protect citizen’s rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution.”
She added, “This is about empowering people to protect themselves and acknowledging the federalist constitutional structure of our government.”
However, it’s looking more and more like the state, as well as the other 13 states with similar measures now in place, may not have any need for them – at least not in the near future. While the interest for increased gun control has not subsided in Washington, it is becoming more and more evident that the Democrats’ narrow majority in both houses will not be enough to push much of anything through.
These anti-gun bills, as well as Biden’s infamous failed infrastructure measure and his equally disastrous immigration reform, have all been blocked thus far by the lack of Republican and swing vote support. Should the Democrats succeed in getting what they want, they will have to gain some powerful Republican allies.
And at the rate they’re going, that’s not likely to happen. But, of course, with laws like Missouri’s new soon-to-be pro-gun bill, even if the left does succeed, citizens in states all over the nation will be protected. Here’s to hoping that this trend continues to spread…