A federal appeals court has overturned Missouri’s interesting “Second Amendment Protection Act,”a measure that was passed by the state legislature and signed into law by Republican Gov. Mike Parson back in 2021.
The law, introduced and passed in response to several anticipated bills that would be overreach on Second Amendment freedoms during the early days of the Biden administration, forbade police from enforcing federal gun laws that don’t have an equivalent state law. Law-enforcement agencies with officers who knowingly enforced federal gun laws without equivalent state laws faced a fine of $50,000 per violating officer.
At the time, Gov. Parson said the unique law “draws a line in the sand and demonstrates our commitment to 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.”
However, a three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld last year’s district court ruling and found that the Missouri law violated the U.S. Constitution’s supremacy clause, which states that federal law takes precedence over state laws.
“A State cannot invalidate federal law to itself,” 8th Circuit Chief Judge Steven Colloton wrote in the ruling. “Missouri does not contest these bedrock principles of our constitutional structure.”
Setback. The Fourth Circuit Court has upheld Maryland’s Handgun Qualification License (HQL) law, which requires citizens to obtain a permit to purchase a firearm. In a 14-2 decision, the court in Maryland Shall Issue v. Wes Moore rejected a Second Amendment challenge to a state law requiring a state Handgun Qualification License to purchase a handgun. Applicants for the license are required to submit fingerprints, undergo a background check and complete a training course. Certain residents, including current or retired law enforcement officers in good standing and current or retired members of the United States military, are exempt.
“We believe that holding is contrary to controlling Supreme Court precedent and is plainly wrong as a matter of law,” plaintiff and gun rights organization Maryland Shall Issue wrote in a social media post after the decision.
Along with 13 other judges, Senior U.S. Circuit Judge Barbara Keenan, a Barack Obama appointee, found that Maryland’s Firearm Safety Act of 2013 doesn’t violate the U.S. Constitution.
The Fourth Circuit’s ruling allows states to require permits simply to purchase a firearm, opening the door for widespread gun registries.
By the time you read this, the 2024 elections will be over, or very close to over. We’ll know shortly if we’ll have a chance to roll back more gun regulations, or whether federal and several state governments will ignore our 2A protections. If you doubt that it’s happening already, just read the two items above.
— Todd Woodard
