Missouri’s bid to revive a controversial gun law that banned local police from enforcing federal gun laws was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, capping a yearslong battle that pitted gun rights advocates against law enforcement.
The court refused to hear the state’s arguments seeking a ruling on whether the state can block police from enforcing federal gun laws, especially if there isn’t an equivalent state law. Although the high court's decision effectively kills the law, Missouri Republicans have been working on another version.
The measure, which was championed by the state’s Republican majority, imposed $50,000 fines for officers who knowingly enforced those federal laws, which include possession of firearms by some domestic violence offenders and weapons registration and tracking.
Local governments, including Kansas City and St. Louis, have fought the law since it was signed by then-Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, at a Kansas City gun shop in June 2021. Dubbed the Second Amendment Preservation Act, it was also criticized by the U.S. Justice Department, which argued the law was causing “significant harm” to law enforcement and public safety.
The Kansas City Police Department on Monday declined to comment.
Monday’s decision was the second rejection by the high court, as former Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey continued to petition the court to take up the case even as the appeals court ruled it unconstitutional.
In 2023, U.S. District Judge Brian Wimes ruled that the law was unconstitutional because it violated the constitutional standard that federal law trumps state law. The Missouri statute is an “unconstitutional (violation of) federal law and is designed to be just that,” Wimes wrote.
As Republicans geared up during the last legislative session to again push for the idea, a coalition of law enforcement officials warned that it was “anti-law enforcement” and would harm their ability to seize weapons from criminals.
The sponsor of the second effort, Rep. Bill Hardwick, a Republican from Dixon, did not return an email seeking comment.
At least one of the weapons used during the 2024 Super Bowl shootings at Kansas City’s Union Station were purchased at Frontier Justice, where Parson signed the original bill into law in 2021.
