They’re nothing, if not predictable. A bill, filed on January 15, 2013:
SECOND REGULAR SESSION
HOUSE BILL NO. 1439
97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES FUNDERBURK (Sponsor), JONES (110), SPENCER, WALKER, COX, BROWN, MCCAHERTY, FRANKLIN, SOMMER, LOVE, BAHR, PARKINSON, GATSCHENBERGER, SCHARNHORST, ROWLAND, GOSEN, HINSON, WILSON, MESSENGER, KELLEY (127), BRATTIN, KOLKMEYER, HIGDON, POGUE, DAVIS, FLANIGAN, PIKE, DUGGER, CURTMAN, KORMAN, HANSEN, HOUGHTON, WIELAND AND BLACK (Co-sponsors).
5129L.01I D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal sections 1.320, 21.750, 571.030, 571.070, 571.101, 571.107, 571.117, and 590.010, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof fifteen new sections relating to firearms, with penalty provisions and a contingent effective date for certain sections.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
1.320. 1. This section shall be known and may be cited as the “Second Amendment Preservation Act”.
2. The general assembly finds and declares that:
(1) The general assembly of the state of Missouri is firmly resolved to support and defend the United States Constitution against every aggression, either foreign or domestic, and is duty bound to oppose every infraction of those principles which constitute the basis of the Union of the States because only a faithful observance of those principles can secure the nation’s existence and the public happiness;
(2) Acting through the United States Constitution, the people of the several states created the federal government to be their agent in the exercise of a few defined powers, while reserving to the state governments the power to legislate on matters which concern the lives, liberties, and properties of citizens in the ordinary course of affairs;
(3) The limitation of the federal government’s power is affirmed under the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which defines the total scope of federal power as being that which has been delegated by the people of the several states to the federal government, and all power not delegated to the federal government in the Constitution of the United States is reserved to the states respectively, or to the people themselves;
(4) Whenever the federal government assumes powers that the people did not grant it in the Constitution, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force;
(5) The several states of the United States of America respect the proper role of the federal government, but reject the proposition that such respect requires unlimited submission. If the government, created by compact among the states, was the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers granted to it by the states through the Constitution, the federal government’s discretion, and not the Constitution, would necessarily become the measure of those powers. To the contrary, as in all other cases of compacts among powers having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself as to when infractions of the compact have occurred, as well as to determine the mode and measure of redress. Although the several states have granted supremacy to laws and treaties made pursuant to the powers granted in the Constitution, such supremacy does not extend to various federal statutes, executive orders, administrative orders, court orders, rules, regulations, or other actions which restrict or prohibit the manufacture, ownership, and use of firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition exclusively within the borders of Missouri; such statutes, executive orders, administrative orders, court orders, rules, regulations, and other actions exceed the powers granted to the federal government except to the extent they are necessary and proper for governing and regulating of land and naval forces of the United States or for organizing, arming, and disciplining of militia forces actively employed in the service of the United States Armed Forces;
(6) The people of the several states have given Congress the power “to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states”, but “regulating commerce” does not include the power to limit citizens’ right to keep and bear arms in defense of their families, neighbors, persons, or property, or to dictate as to what sort of arms and accessories law-abiding, mentally competent Missourians may buy, sell, exchange, or otherwise possess within the borders of this state;
(7) The people of the several states have also granted Congress the power “to lay and collect taxes, duties, imports, and excises, to pay the debts, and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States” and “to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers vested by the Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or office thereof”. These constitutional provisions merely identify the means by which the federal government may execute its limited powers and ought not to be so construed as themselves to grant unlimited powers because to do so would be to destroy the carefully constructed equilibrium between the federal and state governments. Consequently, the general assembly rejects any claim that the taxing and spending powers of Congress can be used to diminish in any way the right of the people to keep and bear arms;
(8) The people of Missouri have vested the general assembly with the authority to regulate the manufacture, possession, exchange, and use of firearms within the borders of this state, subject only to the limits imposed by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and the Missouri Constitution; and
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3. (1) All federal acts, laws, executive orders, administrative orders, court orders, rules, and regulations, whether past, present, or future, which infringe on the people’s right to keep and bear arms as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 23 of the Missouri Constitution shall be invalid in this state, shall not be recognized by this state, shall be specifically rejected by this state, and shall be considered null and void and of no effect in this state.
(2) Such federal acts, laws, executive orders, administrative orders, court orders, rules, and regulations include, but are not limited to:
(a) Any tax, levy, fee, or stamp imposed on firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition not common to all other goods and services which might reasonably be expected to create a chilling effect on the purchase or ownership of those items by law-abiding citizens;
(b) Any registering or tracking of firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition which might reasonably be expected to create a chilling effect on the purchase or ownership of those items by law-abiding citizens;
(c) Any registering or tracking of the owners of firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition which might reasonably be expected to create a chilling effect on the purchase or ownership of those items by law-abiding citizens;
(d) Any act forbidding the possession, ownership, or use or transfer of a firearm, firearm accessory, or ammunition by law-abiding citizens; and
(e) Any act ordering the confiscation of firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition from law-abiding citizens.
4. It shall be the duty of the courts and law enforcement agencies of this state to protect the rights of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms within the borders of this state and to protect these rights from the infringements defined in subsection 3 of this section.
5. No public officer or employee of this state shall have authority to enforce or attempt to enforce any law, statute, ordinance, or order of any court infringing on the right to keep and bear arms as defined in subsection 3 of this section.
6. (1) Any entity or person who knowingly, as defined in section 562.061, attempts to enforce any of the infringements of the right to keep and bear arms included in subsection 3 of this section or otherwise knowingly deprives a citizen of Missouri of the rights or privileges ensured by the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution or Section 23 of Article I of the Missouri Constitution, while acting under the color of any state or federal law, shall be liable to the injured party in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress.
(2) In such action, the court may award the prevailing party, other than the state of Missouri or any political subdivision of the state, reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.
(3) Neither sovereign nor official or qualified immunity shall be an affirmative defense in such cases.
7. Any official, agent, or employee of the United States government who enforces or attempts to enforce any of the infringements on the right to keep and bear arms included in subsection 3 of this section is guilty of a class A misdemeanor. Missouri law enforcement officers shall have the discretionary power to appropriately interpose on behalf of law-abiding citizens, including the power to levy charges or arrest such officials, agents, or employees of the United States government.
8. For the purposes of this section, the term “law-abiding citizen” shall mean a person who is not otherwise precluded under state law from possessing a firearm and shall not be construed to include anyone who is not legally present in the United States or the state of Missouri.
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