Missouri Republican legislators are trying again to prohibit local law enforcement from enforcing federal gun restrictions through a law previously ruled unconstitutional.
The latest proposed comes with changes that supporters hope will clear legal obstacles, but police groups and officials say the law creates the same problems as its predecessor.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 anti-law enforcement,鈥� said Ellisville Police Chief Steve Lewis. 鈥淚t鈥檚 bad legislation for law enforcement in that we believe it restricts law enforcement鈥檚 ability to assist federal task force partners with the seizure of weapons from bad people.鈥�
On April 14, representatives from police departments across the state testified against the proposed law. The group included police from Branson, Rolla, Versailles, Columbia and others.
Passed out of the Missouri House in March, the bill seeks to enact a new Second Amendment Preservation Act. The original law was passed in 2021 and prohibited Missouri police from enforcing federal gun laws and allowed citizens to file $50,000 lawsuits against agencies for doing so.
The bill鈥檚 sponsor, Rep. Bill Hardwick, R-Dixon, called the new version of the law an 鈥渁ffirmation鈥� of Missouri鈥檚 commitment to the Second Amendment. He said the law directs Missouri police to enforce Missouri laws.
The new bill also sidesteps issues the courts had with language that made federal gun laws illegal by instead using words that direct Missouri police officers to simply not enforce federal gun laws.
鈥淚f there鈥檚 a federal gun registry, state police should not enforce that,鈥� Hardwick said on the House floor. 鈥淚f there鈥檚 a federal rule about the amount of bullets that you can have in your home, the state police should not enforce that.鈥�
Lewis serves as vice president of the , an organization of police chiefs, prosecutors and other law enforcement officials from Missouri that works with legislators on bills pertaining to police work. His argument echoes the backlash to the first iteration of the legislation.
The 2021 law faced immediate legal challenges by President Joe Biden鈥檚 Department of Justice and St. Louis and Jackson counties. The city of Arnold, a St. Louis suburb, filed a separate legal challenge against SAPA, backed by 60 Missouri police chiefs who said the law needed clarification and stymied important collaboration between federal and state law enforcement agencies.
A federal judge eventually struck down the law in 2023 for violating the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, a decision later upheld by a federal appeals court.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take the case, but Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to take up the case in an effort to overrule the appeals court.
Lewis said legal advisers warn that, if the law passes, his organization faces the risk of lawsuits for working with federal law enforcement and contributing to federal gun tracing databases.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives National Tracing Center works with police departments around the country to track firearms recovered after a crime to provide investigative leads to solve other crimes.
鈥淭o take that tool out of the hands of local and state law enforcement is absolutely criminal,鈥� Lewis said. 鈥淵ou know who wins? The bad guys win. The guys who are out here committing crimes 鈥� they win because there鈥檚 a lot less law enforcement officers out there chasing them, hunting them and bringing them to justice.鈥�
New bill aimed at public policy
In 2022, Brian Malone, an attorney at St. Louis-based law firm Lashly and Baer, wrote a guide for Missouri cities and police departments . Malone acts as an attorney for cities and police departments across the state, including Ellisville, where Lewis serves as police chief.
Malone said that, for police departments, not much has changed in the new iteration of the proposed legislation. If passed, the law would still leave police departments open to lawsuits if citizens believe they have enforced federal gun laws.
After reviewing the newly proposed law, Malone said the biggest changes relate to the former legislation鈥檚 challenges of federal law. The original law attempted to brand federal gun laws as unenforceable in Missouri, he said.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e no longer declaring that federal laws violate the Second Amendment or that they are null and void in the state of Missouri,鈥� Malone said.
A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in an opinion in August 2024 affirming the federal court's ruling that the 2021 Second Amendment Preservation Act violated the Constitution. The court鈥檚 opinion stated that the state could .
Malone said the new bill acts on that recommendation.
鈥淎ll they鈥檙e saying 鈥� and I think legally, they have the authority to do this 鈥� is local police officers in Missouri are not going to enforce federal laws,鈥� Malone said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not a question of legality, it鈥檚 a question of public policy.鈥�
Still, Malone said, there are avenues for possible legal challenges to the law if passed in its current form. He said cities and law enforcement officials could file lawsuits like the challenge to the law from the city of Arnold that sought not to overturn the rules but to clarify them.
If SAPA passes, Malone said, fear of legal retribution might grind law enforcement collaboration with federal agencies to a halt in many places.
鈥淐ities have to be proactive, because they face the risk of civil lawsuits here,鈥� Malone said. 鈥淲hat we saw last time is they didn鈥檛 want to do anything that was connected with the federal government for fear of liability.鈥�
Federal partnerships shrunk under former law
In a 2021 affidavit submitted in support of the lawsuits filed by St. Louis and Jackson counties challenging the original law, Frederic Winston, then head of the ATF鈥檚 Kansas City Field Division, wrote that the 2021 law saw a dramatic decrease in collaborative partnerships in a state where 鈥渧iolent crime is a significant problem.鈥�
鈥淎TF has seen impacts that I believe hinder the collaborative partnerships and investigative information sharing that protect the people of Missouri,鈥� Winston鈥檚 affidavit says. 鈥淪APA has also impacted ATF鈥檚 ability to rely on state and local partners for information unrelated to ATF鈥檚 own investigations, including those related to the criminal use, possession, and trafficking of firearms.鈥�
According to court filings, the Missouri State Highway Patrol cut ties with the ATF due to the original law, suspending participation in all joint state-federal task forces and halting the sharing of certain data the federal government uses to solve crimes.
Lewis said the city鈥檚 attorney, Malone, and insurance providers have warned that, if the law passes, the department should stop working with federal agencies. He said that includes not only partnering on task forces but also aiding in the federal gun tracing programs.
Lewis said police chiefs of the Law Enforcement Legislative Coalition believe SAPA鈥檚 impact on police work in Missouri will go past collaboration with federal law enforcement and the enforcement of federal gun laws.
Officers might second-guess what they can and can鈥檛 legally do in the field or how they can and can鈥檛 legally aid federal investigations, he said.
鈥淥fficers might say, 鈥榃ell, wait a minute, why would I risk personally being sued or putting the department at risk when I can, just as easily, say never mind?鈥欌�� Lewis said. 鈥淚n my estimation, and based on what my legal team tells me, there are many things we鈥檙e not going to be able to do from a legal perspective.鈥�
Another notable addition to the new version of the act prohibits Missouri law enforcement agencies from hiring former federal employees who enforced federal gun laws at their former job.
That鈥檚 a new problem, Lewis said, that adds to the mound of issues alarming police departments across the state. Lewis said municipalities already struggle to find and hire qualified officers.
鈥淲e would not be able to hire someone who, by all accounts, is very highly qualified to be a law enforcement officer and has done law enforcement at a much higher level than we normally do,鈥� Lewis said. 鈥淲e wouldn鈥檛 even be able to entertain hiring that person because of the mere fact that they work for a federal agency and potentially were involved in the seizure of a firearm in the course of their duties.鈥�
Similar laws pushed nationwide
Second Amendment Preservation Act proposals and laws like it have grown in popularity across the country in the years since the original passage of Missouri鈥檚 version of the law.
Lindsay Nichols, local policy director at gun control advocacy group Giffords, said legislators in more than a dozen other states considered similar laws to the Second Amendment Preservation Act 鈥� some under the same name.
鈥淲e鈥檝e seen these sort of slightly broader versions that go under the term the Second Amendment Preservation Act, that claim that a whole host of gun laws and federal gun laws violate the Second Amendment and purport to invalidate those gun laws as they would apply to residents in those states,鈥� Nichols said.
Iowa legislators briefly considered a version of the law, but the bill proposing it stalled. Last year, Kansas Republicans unsuccessfully pushed a bill mirroring Missouri鈥檚 Second Amendment Preservation Law that
Nichols said the laws can lead to a breakdown in work between federal and state law enforcement, just as Lewis and other police officials in Missouri fear.
鈥淭here is a real threat that gun crime would go unaddressed in communities,鈥� Nichols said. 鈥淢any communities are suffering from gun violence on a daily basis, and the work that law enforcement does to address gun violence is crucially important in those communities.鈥�
Most recently, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon vetoed a version of the Second Amendment Preservation Act that required county prosecutors to file charges against police officers who violate gun owners鈥� Second Amendment rights.
Aaron Dorr, who serves as director of Wyoming Gun Owners, called the veto a 鈥渟tab in the back鈥� to gun owners in Wyoming.
In posts and livestreams, Dorr touts the Second Amendment Preservation Act as a way to defend gun owners from federal laws that would take their weapons away.
Dorr鈥檚 organization, the American Firearms Association, pushes Second Amendment Preservation Act legislation along with outside of Missouri through such groups as the Missouri Firearms Coalitions, Wyoming Gun Owners, Iowa Gun Owners and more.
Dorr prominently supported the first iteration of the law during its legal battle in Missouri 鈥� often taking to social media to update members of his groups about the law.
On Monday, Dorr took to social media to criticize police chiefs that testified against the bill for doing so, calling them anti-Second Amendment on a livestream later that day.
Legislators not listening
Missouri House legislators approved the bill last month 100-51 with some Republicans joining Democrats to oppose the proposed law over concerns shared by many police officials throughout Missouri.
Lewis said the law enforcement coalition continues to fight SAPA in its current form as it moves through the Missouri Senate. He said countless calls to legislators and four proposed bills with wording that satisfied police departments鈥� qualms failed to sway lawmakers.
Legislators and proponents of the bill who branded it 鈥減ro-police鈥� particularly irked Lewis.
鈥淚鈥檝e been on the job 35 years 鈥� I鈥檝e been in law enforcement for that long,鈥� Lewis said. 鈥淚鈥檝e never seen a group of people, that say they鈥檙e pro-police, less willing to sit down and talk with us. Less willing to make changes that we believe are in the best interest of law enforcement 鈥� which means those are in the best interest of our communities.鈥�
In past weeks, Dorr live-streamed and posted videos on the Missouri Firearm Coalition鈥檚 Facebook page in support of Missouri鈥檚 new Second Amendment Preservation Act 鈥�
In a livestream, Dorr said he believes groups like the Missouri State Highway Patrol and Missouri Sheriffs United plan to 鈥渟abotage鈥� the law as it makes its way through the Senate.
鈥淭hey intend to sabotage and destroy the Second Amendment Preservation Act via amendments,鈥� Dorr said.
Lewis said he doesn鈥檛 expect the bill to pass in its current form. On April 14, law enforcement leaders testified against the bill in the Missouri Senate.
Malone said it's difficult to say what the legislature might do, but noted he expects 鈥渃onsiderable pressure鈥� on legislators to vote in favor of the law.
Both said they were unsure if Gov. Mike Kehoe would sign the law in its current form.
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METHODS
To tell this story, reporter Kavahn Mansouri reviewed the current and former Second Amendment Preservation Act proposed in the Missouri Legislature, looking to find the differences between the 2025 law and its predecessor that a federal appeals court struck down in 2024. He reviewed Missouri legislature debate over the currently proposed law. Mansouri also spoke with a Missouri police chief and the attorney that represents the chief鈥檚 department on the possible impacts if the law were to pass again as well as Giffords, a gun law advocacy group, that says laws like the Second Amendment Preservation Act are popping up nationwide.
REFERENCES
(Introduced Feb. 4, 2025)
(Lashly and Baer | March 2022)
鈥淧olice say Missouri鈥檚 gun law made it harder to stop crime. Now Iowa will consider a similar bill.鈥�
(Midwest Newsroom | Feb. 2, 2022)
(ProPublica | August 2024)
(Kansas City Star | March 25, 2024)
TYPE OF ARTICLE
News: Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
