Monitoring Desk
WASHINGTON: A US federal judge ruled on Tuesday that Missouri state law that declared several federal gun laws “invalid” is unconstitutional, handing the US Justice Department a victory in its efforts to get the law tossed out.
At issue was a step Republican Governor Mike Parson signed into a law in 2021 that declared that certain federal gun laws infringed on the rights of the individuals to keep and bear arms under the US Constitution’s Second Amendment.
US district judge stance
United States District Judge Brian Wimes in Jefferson City, Missouri, said that the state’s Second Amendment Preservation Act (SAPA) violates the United States Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which holds federal laws take priority over conflicting state laws.
Wimes, an appointee of ex-President Barack Obama, in siding with Democratic President of the US Joe Biden’s administration, called the practical effects of the Republican-led state’s law “counter-intuitive to its stated motive.”
He wrote that “while purporting to protect citizens, SAPA exposes people to harm by interfering with the federal government’s ability to enforce lawfully enacted firearms regulations designed by Congress for the motive of protecting people,”
Andrew Bailey, a Republican and Attorney General of Missouri, in a statement promised an appeal, saying he was committed to “defending Missourians’ fundamental right to bear arms.”
