The state’s highest court ruled last week that the Cole County Circuit Court must rule on the constitutionality of the state’s Second Amendment Preservation Act (SAPA).
The Missouri Supreme Court remanded to Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green a legal challenge to SAPA that was filed by the City of St. Louis, St. Louis County, and Jackson County. Green had initially ruled that legal clarification would come from other pending litigation.
Other litigation includes the U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit filed against the state of Missouri in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri to prevent SAPA from being enforced.
“Procedurally, I think the Supreme Court was correct in sending it back to Cole County for review,” said St. Louis attorney Mark McCloskey. “SAPA is a great step for turning Missouri into a sanctuary state when it comes to the federal government attempting to infringe on Second Amendment rights.”
McCloskey and his wife Patricia gained national attention two years ago in the wake of the 2020 George Floyd protests for brandishing an assault rifle and a semi-automatic pistol in front of their St. Louis home while demonstrators marched towards former Mayor Lyda Krewson’s nearby home.
As previously reported in the St. Louis Record, 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’s a question of the 10th Amendment and the powers of the federal government versus the powers of the state government and those are the kinds of conflicts that the United States Supreme Court will need to eventually rule on,” McCloskey told the St. Louis Record. “So, I think that whatever happens in the circuit court will eventually make its way back to the Missouri Supreme Court and perhaps beyond.”
The 10th Amendment states that the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
“No statute is a perfect statute,” McCloskey added. “My understanding is that there are some concerns of some law enforcement who are misinterpreting the statute such that they think they can't cooperate with federal law enforcement on things that don't involve constitutional treatments over amendment rights. I think some police entities are probably misinformed about the proper interpretation of the Act.”
McCloskey is campaigning for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Roy Blunt this year.