The state of Missouri has launched the first salvo in what promises to be a furious legal battle with the federal government over gun rights and federalism.
The state legislature recently passed a law that prohibits state law enforcement agents from enforcing federal gun laws within state borders. It also invalidates federal actions that contradict state law and infringe on the Second Amendment rights of Missouri residents.
If this sounds just like the immigration sanctuaries set up in many major American cities, there's a reason. The law operates on the same principle, and it doesn't try to prohibit federal agents from enforcing federal laws. It simply says that state officials are not permitted to participate in that enforcement.
The federal government, of course, threw a fit. Lawyers at the Department of Justice blasted the law as unconstitutional and threatened to withhold federal funding to the state.
Missouri officials responded and vowed to fight "tooth and nail" for Missourians Second Amendment rights. They also pointed out the hypocrisy of the federal government regarding the "sanctuary" issue.
“President Biden and the Department of Justice have decided to reward states and cities that refuse to cooperate with enforcing constitutional immigration laws that protect our citizens against foreign threats, but now they attack Missouri for refusing to cooperate with enforcing unconstitutional gun confiscation laws that put our citizens in danger and degrade their rights,” they said.
“We will fight tooth and nail to defend the right to keep and bear arms protected by the Second Amendment, Article I, § 23 of the Missouri Constitution, and the Second Amendment Preservation Act. And we will not tolerate any attempt by the federal government to deprive Missourians of this critical civil right,” they concluded.
Missouri officials, of course, have every right to fight for their ability to dictate their own laws. They may prove successful, but they have a big hill to climb. The last 100 years of judicial activism in the Supreme Court has solidified the federal government's near-unlimited power over the states. In case after case, SCOTUS has ruled that Washington has supremacy over a state's rights to determine its own laws, and Missouri will have to convince federal judges that this precedent somehow does not apply to them.
Liberty-loving states across the country should cheer for Missouri's success, but they should also join with the Show-Me State in using our most powerful tool to fight federal overreach: an Article V Convention of States.
In 2017, the Missouri legislature passed a resolution calling for a Convention of States to reduce the size, scope, and jurisdiction of the federal government. They made this call under Article V of the Constitution, which allows the states to call a convention for proposing constitutional amendments. These amendments can restrict the ability of the federal government to impose restrictive laws on the states, and give states greater ability to supersede those laws if they conflict with constitutional rights (like the right to keep and bear arms).
The states are beginning to push back against federal overreach, but they still haven't used their most powerful tool. Article V was included in the Constitution for exactly this moment, and we must use it before the federal government totally supersedes the rights of the people and the states.
Fourteen other states have joined Missouri in its call, but we still need 19 more to hold the first-ever Convention of States. Will you sign the petition below to tell your state legislator that you support this constitutional remedy for federal overreach?
