Second Amendment: Missouri asks Supreme Court to revive a controversial gun law

John Fritze, USA TODAY
Updated ·2 min read
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WASHINGTON − Missouri officials on Thursday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to revive a controversial law that blocks local police from enforcing federal gun prohibitions.

The state's "Second Amendment Preservation Act," signed by Republican Gov. Mike Parson in 2021, allows Missouri residents to sue police for $50,000 if they attempt to enforce federal gun laws. The Biden administration sued Missouri over the law last year and a federal appeals court blocked it late last month.

In an emergency appeal Thursday that puts the Second Amendment on the Supreme Court's docket again this year, Missouri asked the justices to allow it to enforce the law while the appeal continues. If the court grants that request it could inspire other conservative states to weigh in with similar laws.

The high court will likely decide whether to honor Missouri's request in coming weeks. Shortly after the appeal was filed, the court asked the Justice Department to respond by Tuesday.

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The Supreme Court is already considering a high-profile Second Amendment case challenging a federal law that bars people who are subject to restraining orders from owning guns. President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, was charged with another provision of the law that prohibits people with drug addictions from owning guns.

The nation's highest court expanded Second Amendment protections in a landmark 6-3 opinion last year that invalidated a New York gun licensing law. A majority of the court ruled in that case that gun regulations must be "consistent with this nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation" to survive court challenges. That has set off a flurry of lawsuits over other gun laws, requiring federal court to assess whether the prohibitions at issue have some connection to history.

Republican state lawmakers in Missouri approved the measure in 2021 over the objections of police chiefs who warned it could interfere with efforts to stop violent crime. Conservative elected officials in the state celebrated its passage, arguing it established Missouri as a state with some of the most permissive gun laws in the country.

Contributing: Springfield News-Leader

Supporters of gun control and firearm safety measures hold a protest rally outside the Supreme Court as the Court hears oral arguments in State Rifle and Pistol v. City of New York, NY, in Washington, DC, December 2, 2019.
Supporters of gun control and firearm safety measures hold a protest rally outside the Supreme Court as the Court hears oral arguments in State Rifle and Pistol v. City of New York, NY, in Washington, DC, December 2, 2019.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Missouri asks Supreme Court to revive ban on federal gun laws