A federal court this week struck down a Missouri law that prohibits police from enforcing certain gun laws in the state.
On Monday, the Associated Press (AP) reported that the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a Missouri state law on the grounds that it violated the U.S. Constitution's supremacy clause, which states that federal law takes precedence over state law.
“A state cannot invalidate a federal law for itself,” wrote 8th Circuit Chief Judge Steven Colloton in his ruling.
“The Supremacy Clause states that federal laws are 'the supreme law of the land' … notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Constitution or in the laws of any state,” the ruling states. “By this declaration, the states are prohibited from enacting laws inconsistent with any law of the United States.”
The Missouri law in question prohibited police in the state from enforcing federal gun laws for which there was no corresponding state law. Law enforcement agencies whose officers knowingly enforced federal gun laws without corresponding state laws faced a fine of $50,000 per officer violating the law.
AP Photo/Jeff Roberson/AP Photo/Jeff Roberson
In a statement following the ruling, Missouri's Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey said, “I will always fight for Missourians' Second Amendment rights.”
Bailey also said his office intends to review the judge's decision.
Federal laws not reflected in Missouri law include gun registration and tracking requirements and restrictions on firearm ownership for certain perpetrators of domestic violence.
The law, which was repealed this week, had been on hold since 2023, when it was temporarily blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court due to legal challenges in lower courts.
Missouri's law sparked a conflict that destroyed a crime-fighting partnership with U.S. attorneys, a collaboration that former Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt – now a U.S. senator – had championed for years. Under Schmitt's Safer Streets initiative, lawyers from his office were appointed as assistant U.S. attorneys to help prosecute violent crimes.
According to the Department of Justice, after the law went into effect, the Missouri State Crime Laboratory, operated by the Highway Patrol, refused to process evidence that could be useful in federal proceedings related to firearms offenses.
Republican lawmakers who supported the bill said they were motivated by concerns about possible new gun restrictions under Democratic President Joe Biden, who signed the most significant gun violence legislation in decades.
The federal law tightened background checks for younger gun buyers, expanded gun ownership restrictions for perpetrators of domestic violence and provided assistance to states in implementing red flag laws that allow authorities to more easily confiscate guns from people deemed dangerous.
