A Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor has sued the Secretary of State for certifying an initiative petition concerning state gun laws.
Paul Berry, who previously campaigned for Congress, filed the lawsuit in Cole County Circuit Court on Aug. 28.
“My major complaint is that they didn't say there was any local cost, but there's always a local cost to enforcing an ordinance, especially one on guns,” he said.
Berry and AG Andrew Bailey
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Berry proposed a rival ballot initiative that, if approved by voters, will restrict gun laws to only those approved by the Missouri General Assembly while the competing ballot petition would allow local governments to enact gun ordinances.
“My initiative petition has been approved by the Secretary of State and we're collecting signatures right now,” Berry told the St. Louis Record. “I sued because the fiscal note on the other ballot initiative did not provide the true cost to taxpayers, and the ballot summary language did not inform voters that voting for their option would waive their constitutional rights and substantially amend their current rights to constitutional carry.”
Although the rival ballot initiative was proposed by Sensible Missouri and Judge Jimmie Edwards, Berry’s lawsuit names Secretary Jay Ashcroft and Scott Fitzpatrick, state auditor.
"The Missouri Supreme Court has drastically limited both Ashcroft and Attorney General Bailey's ability to address the constitutional issues involving initiative petitions during the filing and signature phase," Berry said in an interview. "If he were legally permitted to stop a clearly unconstitutional initiative petition that violates the U.S. Constitution, I'm positive Jay Ashcroft would do so."
Berry is in the process of gathering 170,000 signatures by the May 2024 deadline in order for his initiative petition to be included in the November 2024 election.
As previously reported in the St. Louis Record, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones proposed legislation last month that would outlaw AR-15s, AK-47s and military-style weapons.
The gun safety law would prevent the transfer or sale of guns to minors, take action on ghost guns, prepare St. Louis for the passage of Blair’s Law to ban celebratory gun fire, and ban anyone convicted of insurrection or hate crimes from having guns in St. Louis.
"If the Sensible MO initiative passes, Mayor Jones would be able to do that," Berry added. "If my initiative passes, she wouldn't be able to do it and under current law, she can't do it. Under Sensible MO's ballot initiative, you're going to be waiving your right to carry guns without a permit. Currently, you can carry guns by the Constitution without a permit.”