Democrats from the House of Representatives point out that the National Rifle Association has not weighed in on a bill that would prevent the federal government from enforcing certain restrictions on firearms in Missouri.
“While privately telling many Missouri lawmakers that their organization opposes efforts to override Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of House Bill 436, officials with the National Rifle Association repeatedly have refused to take a public position on the blatantly unconstitutional pro-gun legislation,” a statement e-mailed by Democrat leadership says.
“Although NRA representatives testified in favor of numerous bills to expand gun rights that were heard by legislative committees this year, the organization didn’t testify on behalf of HB 436 or any of the similar bills before the General Assembly this year that seek to declare federal gun laws null and void in Missouri and that attempt to make it a crime to enforce those laws,” the statement continues. “According to several recent news reports on the bill in advance of the General Assembly’s Sept. 11 veto session, NRA officials either have failed to respond to reporters’ inquiries or declined to state the organization’s position on the bill.”
Kansas City Rep. John Rizzo is calling out the national gun lobby to take a stand on the issue.
“As the nation’s largest and most powerful gun-rights group, the NRA should tell Missourians where it stands on HB 436,” says Rizzo, who is the House Minority Whip. “If the NRA opposes the bill, as its representatives have privately said, then it should say so publicly. If the NRA supports shredding other provisions of the Constitution in the name of protecting the Second Amendment, as the bill would do, then it should have the courage of its convictions and say so rather than cowering in silence.”
The statement says provisions of HB 436 attempting to nullify federal law and criminalize law enforcement violate the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which holds that federal laws are superior to contradictory state laws.
“The bill also prohibits the publishing of the name of any gun owner for any reason in any context in violation of free speech and freedom of the press clauses of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the free speech provision of the Missouri Constitution, Article I, Section 8,” the statement concludes.
