When the Missouri legislature convenes in September, Republican lawmakers plan to override Democrat Governor Jay Nixon’s veto of The Second Amendment Protection Act, a bill that both expands gun rights and “makes federal gun regulations unenforceable.”
Moreover, several Democrat lawmakers are planning on voting to override the veto as well.
According to Fox News, the “legislation would make it a misdemeanor for federal agents to attempt to enforce any federal gun regulations that ‘infringe on the people’s right to keep and bear arms.'” These same charges would also be applicable to journalists “who publish any identifying information about gun owners.”
Nixon opposes the law because he says it gives precedence to state laws over federal.
As Breitbart News reported when this legislation was initially being debated in February, the superiority of a state’s law over a federal one is a common theme in Thomas Jefferson’s writing on states’ powers of nullification. However, nullification has been rejected by the Supreme Court each time it has been presented as an argument to support a state’s position, presenting an uphill battle for the Missouri legislation.
Republicans only need one Democrat to vote with them in order to override the veto, and three have already signaled that they will: T.J. McKenna (D-Festus), Keith English (D-Florissant), and Ben Harris (D-Hillsboro).
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins.
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