Supreme Court Rejects Bid to Revive Missouri’s ‘Second Amendment Preservation Act’

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied cert to a lawsuit brought by the state of Missouri against the federal government over the Show Me State’s “Second Amendment Preservation Act”, which itself was challenged by the Biden-era Justice Department. 

The law in question not only prohibited state and local law enforcement in Missouri from cooperating with federal agents to enforce federal gun laws, but allowed for civil suits to be filed by individuals who were subject to local or state police action in relation to federal gun control statutes. 

A U.S. District Court judge threw out Missouri’s law on the grounds that it was “an unconstitutional ‘interposit[ion]’ against federal law,” opining that the law’s language declaring “various federal statutes, executive orders, administrative orders, court orders, rules, regulations, or other actions that collect data or restrict or prohibit the manufacture, ownership, or use of firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition exclusively within the borders of Missouri” immaterial under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution was itself a violation of the Constitution. 

Though § 1.420 purports to invalidate substantive provisions of the NFA and the GCA within Missouri, such an act is invalid under the Supremacy Clause. And, even though Missouri defines certain substantive provisions of the NFA and GCA as “infringements,” the regulatory measures are still valid in Missouri through the Supremacy Clause. Thus, to the extent § 1.420 purports to negate the constitutionality or substance of the NFA or GCA, these regulatory schemes are presumptively lawful, and it is an impermissible nullification attempt that violates theSupremacy Clause.

The court ruled that Section 1.420 alone was enough to invalidate the SAPA statute in its entirety; a position upheld by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. When then-Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed his cert petition with the Supreme Court hoping to overturn those decisions, Gun Owners of America and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen (along with 14 other Republican attorneys general) filed amicus briefs in support of the state’s position. 

Today’s decision not to hear Missouri’s appeal will keep SAPA off the books, though lawmakers in Jefferson City have been debating an amended version of the law that supposedly addresses the courts’ assertions of constitutional defects.  

The easiest way to do that would be to pass a law that simply prohibits state and local law enforcement from assisting the federal government in investigations aimed solely or primarily enforcing federal gun statutes, without muddying the legal waters by invoking the Tenth Amendment or challenging the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The district court even noted that, “[w]hile Missouri cannot be compelled to assist in the enforcement of federal regulations within the state, it may not regulate federal law enforcement or otherwise interfere with its operations.”

In other words, it would be a perfectly valid exercise of state power for Missouri lawmakers to prohibit local police departments and the state-level law enforcement agencies from participating in task forces with the BATFE… though it would also probably be legal for the federal government to predicate any federal policing grants on cooperation between federal agencies and state and local law enforcement.  

It’s worth noting that Missouri’s SAPA bill was largely the work of the Dorr Brothers, and they’re busy trying to get other red states to try to put similarly flawed laws in place. As I reported back in July, Ohio lawmakers are considering a SAPA bill of their own that also claims to nullify federal gun laws in the Buckeye State: 

Although the several states have granted supremacy to laws and treaties made under the powers granted in the Constitution of the United States, such supremacy does not extend to various federal statutes, executive orders, administrative orders, court orders, rules, regulations, or other actions that collect data or restrict or prohibit the manufacture, ownership, and use of firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition exclusively within the borders of Ohio; such statutes, executive orders, administrative orders, court orders, rules, regulations, and other actions exceed the powers granted to the federal government except to the extent they are necessary and proper for governing and regulating the United States armed forces or for organizing, arming, and disciplining militia forces actively employed in the service of the United States armed forces.

This nullification language is a legal dead end, which might explain why the Ohio bill hasn’t received so much as a hearing in committee since it was first introduced last September. 

Ironically, while the Dorrs take issue with state law enforcement assisting the feds in enforcing gun laws, their group Missouri Firearms Coalition wholeheartedly agrees with using the Missouri National Guard to enforce federal immigration law.

Thank you, @GovMikeKehoe! pic.twitter.com/iKTgjR2ZUm

— Missouri Firearms Coalition (@MOFirearms2A) October 1, 2025

I don’t know why any Second Amendment group would be weighing in on the National Guard assisting ICE in the first place, but it seems contradictory, to say the least, to cheer on the organized militia in Missouri helping to enforce federal laws while opposing state and local law enforcement agencies from doing the same.

I believe there are more pressing 2A issues for Missouri lawmakers to address, like repealing the ban on concealed carry on public transportation, but if legislators do decide to take a second look at a Second Amendment Preservation Act, they should drop the Tenth Amendment language and stick to what the courts have already said they can do: decline to use any state resources assisting federal agencies like the BATFE.  

Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.

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