When Senators Mike Cierpiot (R-Jackson County) and Lincoln Hough (R-Springfield) failed to support Senate Bill 10 in committee, members of a conservative, Missouri-first organization promptly asked Senate President Caleb Rowden to relieve them of their chairmanships.
SB 10, sponsored by Senator Bill Eigel (R-St. Charles), would have created the Anti-Red Flag Gun Seizure Act.
“Hough voted against it and Mike Cierpiot failed to show up for the committee hearing as a way of saying he's voting no,” said Byron Keelin, president of the Freedom Principle MO, 501(c)4 organization.
Rowden has yet to respond to the group’s demand and Keelin doesn’t expect a reply.
“They shouldn’t be allowed to serve as chair of any Senate committee,” Keelin said. “If Senate President is going to remove a senator from all his committees because that person wore bib overalls on the senate floor, certainly turning your back on law-abiding citizens should warrant a similar type of admonishment."
As previously reported, last year Sen. Mike Moon (R-Ash Grove) was removed from all of his assignments except one standing and two joint committees due to his overalls and other alleged protocol violations.
“Lincoln Hough is more Democrat than he is Republican,” Keelin said in an interview. “Most of the things he's voted against have been the conservative agenda. Cierpiot says he's a National Rifle Association member so to miss a vote on a bill that would protect gun owners from egregious federal, state, or local overreach without necessarily having committed a crime, the NRA should consider revoking his membership.”
The Anti-Red Flag Gun Seizure Act would have countered Western District of Missouri federal Judge Brian Wimes’ order that rendered the Second Amendment Preservation Act null and void.
SAPA invalidated several federal firearm laws and allows Missourians to file a $50,000 lawsuit against law enforcement when their Second Amendment rights have been violated.
“The ramifications are that if the federal government or a city tries to pass red flag laws, legal gun owners in those areas could be impacted and potentially have their guns taken away for no reason at all,” Keelin said.
The House version of SB 10, House Bill (HB) 712, passed out of the Emerging Issues Committee.
"Hopefully that one gets approved but I don't see how it can get through the Senate per se," Keelin added.
Introduced by Mazzie Boyd, HB 712 was referred to Legislative Oversight this week but is not yet scheduled for a hearing.