State Supreme Court hears challenge to gun law

by Wicker Perlis

Missouri News Network

 

A new Missouri law that has stopped some state and local law enforcement from working with federal officials on certain gun crimes was challenged before the Missouri Supreme Court on Monday.

The city of St. Louis, and St. Louis and Jackson counties, are suing the state in an attempt to nullify the Second Amendment Preservation Act, which the General Assembly passed during the 2021 session.

Robert Dierker, a lawyer and former judge representing the city and counties, said the act violates the constitutional rights of local governments in the state, as well as the separation of powers between the legislative and judicial branches.

"When I was rereading the state's brief last night, it struck me that the Second Amendment Preservation Act is misnamed," Dierker said. "It should be the separation of powers destruction act."

Dierker said the law, which prohibits state and local law enforcement from enforcing federal gun laws that "restrict or prohibit ... the manufacture, ownership and use of firearms, firearm accessories or ammunition," is dangerous in part because of its vagueness. Officers from various departments and agencies are not sure which federal laws fall into this category, if any, Dierker said.

The impact of this is that several state and local agencies, including the Missouri Highway Patrol, have stopped working with federal partners on gun laws and task forces. These agencies are also no longer participating in federal gun-related crime databases, Dierker said.

The counties were joined by the United States Department of Justice in the case. U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Sandberg told judges about a Highway Patrol officer conducting a traffic stop involving a federal fugitive. Ultimately, the fugitive was let go because the officer did not know if he would be violating the new state law.

"The federal government cares about this case because the law poses a substantial risk to public safety," Sandberg said.

Missouri Solicitor General John Sauer made the state's case to the court, doing so largely on procedural grounds. He said there are currently lawsuits pending against the city and counties involving prisoners who have been charged with federal gun crimes. These prisoners are appealing their cases due to the Second Amendment Preservation Act.

Sauer argued that those cases were the proper place to debate the law, not the general challenge filed by the three local governments. He added that the attorney general's office "will defend the validity of the statute" in those cases.

Dierker said those cases could create issues if they are not all decided uniformly. A single broad judgment on the law itself could prevent that, he argued.

"We need forward-looking relief," Dierker said.

Another argument made by Sauer and the state hinges on the procedures used when the circuit court dismissed the suit in August. That court did so on procedural grounds as opposed to the merits of the case.

He said the Supreme Court should not decide on the merits of the statute when the lower court had not done so. He asserted that the Supreme Court is the "court of review, not the court of first view."

Sauer said, if the Supreme Court does not dismiss the case as the circuit court had, the case should go back to the circuit court for a decision on the merits of the law itself.

A brief was filed on the side of the municipalities by the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. Opposing briefs were filed on behalf of the state by the Missouri Firearms Coalition along with several organizations from other states, like Gun Owners of America and the National Foundation for Gun Rights.

The court did not indicate when a ruling might come.