Missouri Republican Launches Second Attempt at Second Amendment Preservation Act

The first version of Missouri’s Second Amendment Preservation Act remains on hold thanks to a court challenge launched by Merrick Garland and the Biden administration, but a Show Me State Republican is hoping that a revised SAPA bill will soon take its place. 

The original Second Amendment Preservation Act took effect in 2021, and in addition to prohibiting state and local law enforcement from cooperating with the feds on enforcing federal gun control statutes, essentially nullified those federal gun laws across Missouri. 

After DOJ filed suit, a U.S. District Court judge struck down the statute, arguing that it was unconstitutional ‘interposit[ion]’ on the federal goverment by essentially trying to nullify federal law in Missouri. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld U.S. District Judge Brian Wimes’s decision last August, holding that SAPA violated the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. 

“Because the (Second Amendment Preservation) Act purports to invalidate federal law in violation of the Supremacy Clause, we affirm the (district court’s) judgment,” Chief Judge Steven Colloton, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote in the unanimous opinion. 

The U.S. Department of Justice filed the lawsuit challenging the law arguing it has undermined federal drug and weapons investigations. Late last year, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request by Attorney General Andrew Bailey to allow Missouri to enforce the Second Amendment Preservation Act while its appeal is ongoing.

Bailey has since appealed the Eighth Circuit decision to the Supreme Court, and a response from Donald Trump’s DOJ is due in about a month. There’s a good chance that the DOJ won’t continue litigating against SAPA, but in the meantime state Sen. Rick Brattin has introduced a revised SAPA bill that he believes can withstand a court challenge. 

Brattin told the Senate Transportation, Infrastructure and Public Safety Committee at Monday’s hearing on the bill that the new version is a “reshuffling” of the bill to put it in accordance with the parameters of the Eighth Court’s ruling. The new version presents updated language in the bill’s statement of purpose and removes explicit references to federal agencies, centering the bill instead on state and local offices.

“This isn’t coming and reinventing the wheel,” Brattin said. “This is just clarifying and making it in line with what the Eighth Courts have done.”

Aaron Dorr, a member of the Missouri Firearms Coalition and staunch advocate of the original law, emphasized that the bill was still necessary under the Trump administration regardless of its pro-gun platform.

Dorr also emphasized that the new version had been updated to reflect the concerns of police.

Lewis County Sheriff David Parrish rebutted Dorr’s claim: “This type of legislation will create major obstacles for our officers and deputies throughout the state.”

Columbia resident Kristin Bowen testified in opposition backed by the Missouri chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

She cited Missouri’s ranking as one of the states with the highest rate of firearm-related deaths. She also referenced the growing rate of suicide via firearm and gun-related homicides in the state.

“It’s a priority for me,” said Sen. Travis Fitzwater, a Republican from Holts Summit and chairman of The Committee on Transportation, Infrastructure and Public Safety. “This committee will probably take action on (the bill) quickly.”

If Brattin’s bill attempts to nullify federal law, then it’s going to run into the same constitutional issues as the original Second Amendment Preservation Act. If, on the other hand, the bill merely prohibits local and state law enforcement agencies from enforcing federal gun laws it’s going to be on firmer constitutional grounds. 

Even if that is the case, expect a lot of resistance to SAPA from law enforcement and officials in Missouri’s largest cities, who argue that the law would hinder interagency task forces and exacerbate violent crime. 

So long as the bill passes constitutional muster I don’t have an issue with it, though I do think there are bigger priorities for Missouri lawmakers when it comes to our Second Amendment rights, like repealing the state’s ban on lawful carry on public transportation. That, to me anyway, would have a more immediate and positive impact on gun owners than a revised SAPA statute.