A Missouri law that declares certain federal gun restrictions invalid is unconstitutional, a U.S. appeals court ruled Monday – the second time a federal court has struck down the sweeping state measure.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in a written opinion found that the law – the Second Amendment Preservation Act, or SAPA – purported to invalidate federal law in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s supremacy clause, which ensures federal law trumps state law.
The ruling is a blow to Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey and other Missouri Republicans who have defended the law since the Gov. Mike Parson signed it into law in 2021. Bailey, who will appear on the November ballot and has positioned himself as a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment, could ask the full appeals court to hear the case or seek review by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The federal gun laws declared invalid by SAPA include statutes covering weapons registration and tracking, and possession of firearms by some domestic violence offenders. State and local police are prohibited under the act from helping federal agents enforce any of the “invalid” laws, or from hiring former federal agents who had enforced them.
Under the law, police departments are subject to $50,000 lawsuits from private citizens who believe their Second Amendment rights were violated. Enforcement of the act has been on pause, however, as a challenge to the measure plays out in court.
“That Missouri may lawfully withhold its assistance from federal law enforcement, however, does not mean that the State may do so by purporting to invalidate federal law,” Chief Judge Steven Colloton, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, wrote in the court’s decision.
If Missouri wants to stop assisting with the enforcement of valid federal firearms laws, Colloton wrote, “then it may do so by other means that are lawful, and assume political accountability for that decision.”
U.S. District Court Judge Brian Wimes in March 2023 ruled the law unconstitutional, but Missouri appealed.
Monday’s decision came in a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice against Missouri. The agency has said the law has disrupted longstanding state-federal task forces and information sharing.
In at least one instance, a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper released a federal fugitive. The DOJ in a court filing said a Highway Patrol trooper in September 2021 released the fugitive rather than risk liability for the state agency.
“Missouri has many challenges,” Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said in a statement. “I hope the Attorney General and other state leaders actually address crime issues to make us safer, rather than undermining efforts of federal agents and local police officers who work each day to keep us safe from gun violence.”
Bailey said his office was reviewing the decision. On social media, he posted: “I will always fight for Missourians’ Second Amendment rights.”
The Star’s Kacen Bayless contributed reporting
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