Court strikes down Missouri law that barred police from enforcing federal gun laws

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Federal appeals judges on Monday struck down a Missouri law that barred police from enforcing some federal gun laws.

The 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals found that the Missouri law violated a section of the US Constitution known as the Supremacy Clause, which states that federal law takes precedence over state laws.

“A state cannot invalidate federal law for itself,” 8th Circuit Chief Judge Steven Colloton wrote in the ruling.

Missouri’s Republican Attorney General, Andrew Bailey, said in a statement that his office is reviewing the decision. “I will always fight for the Second Amendment rights of Missourians,” he said.

The US Department of Justice, which filed the lawsuit against Missouri, declined to comment.

Missouri law prohibited police from enforcing federal gun laws that do not have an equivalent state law. Law enforcement agencies with officers who knowingly enforced federal gun laws without equivalent state laws faced a $50,000 fine per violating officer.

Federal laws without similar laws in Missouri include statutes covering gun registration and tracking and the possession of firearms by some domestic violence offenders.

Missouri’s law has been on hold since 2023, when the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocked it as the legal challenge played out in lower courts.

The conflict over the Missouri law destroyed a crime-fighting partnership with U.S. attorneys that former Missouri Republican attorney general Eric Schmitt, now a U.S. senator, had promoted for years. Under Schmitt’s Safer Streets Initiative, attorneys in his office were deputized as assistant U.S. attorneys to help prosecute violent crimes.

The Justice Department said the Missouri State Highway Patrol-operated crime lab refused to process evidence that would help federal firearms prosecutions after the law took effect.

Republican lawmakers who helped pass the bill said they were motivated by the potential for new gun restrictions under Democratic President Joe Biden, who signed the most sweeping gun violence bill in decades.

Federal legislation tightened background checks for younger gun buyers, keeps firearms from more domestic violence offenders, and helps states enforce red flag laws that make it easier for authorities to take guns from people believed to be dangerous.

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