When Gov. Mike Parson signed the Second Amendment Preservation Act (SAPA) into law last year, Rep. Doug Clemens (D-St. Ann) was surprised.
“Gov. Parson talks about being a law enforcement guy,” Clemens told the St. Louis Record. “He is a former sheriff and the idea that he would hamstring police officers trying to do their job and the idea that he would endanger police officers financially and police departments financially, he's really defunding the police.”
SAPA invalidates several federal firearm laws and allows Missourians to file a $50,000 lawsuit against law enforcement when their Second Amendment rights have been violated.
“It seems that everybody's carrying a gun nowadays, but the state of Missouri has stopped participating in joint federal task forces across the state, which means that really effective task forces like child sex trafficking in Missouri no longer participate because it might mean the officers have to enforce gun laws and they would be open to a $50,000 lawsuit per occurrence,” Clemens said.
The Department of Justice has since sued the state of Missouri in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri to prevent SAPA from being enforced, according to media reports.
As previously reported in the St. Louis Record, the city of Arnold also sued the state of Missouri and Attorney General Eric Schmitt over SAPA.
“As a direct result of SAPA being signed into law, we had a police chief almost immediately resign saying he can no longer do his job,” Clemens said. “Article Six of the U.S. Constitution pretty plainly states that federal law always trumps state law and that you have to enforce federal law. So, the DOJ has lots of resources and will be able to continue the fight to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Court records show no abatement has been issued by the federal court that stays SAPA while the lawsuit is being litigated.
“SAPA makes it illegal for us to enforce federal law, which is a violation of the U.S. Constitution and won't hold water in the long run but until there's a court decision, that is the rule of the land in Missouri,” Clemens added.
Schmitt called the DOJ lawsuit "partisan."
“The Biden Department of Justice has now filed yet another partisan lawsuit that seeks to attack Missourians’ Second Amendment rights,” Schmitt said in a statement online. “Time and again, the Biden Administration has put partisan politics ahead of public safety. Make no mistake, the law is on our side in this case, and I intend to beat the Biden Administration in court once again.”