On the day that voters in Colorado stood up for their right to keep and bear arms, some Missouri state senators failed to do likewise.
By a tally of 22-12, the vote in the state senate fell one short of the two-thirds necessary to override Governor Jay Nixon’s veto of a bill that would have nullified federal attempts to infringe on the rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment.
On the House side of the state legislature, representatives just crossed the constitutional threshold for a veto override by a vote of 109-49.
In July, Governor Nixon vetoed a bill passed overwhelmingly by both houses of the legislature.
With the issuing of a terse, constitutionally confused letter, Nixon notified the secretary of state of Missouri that he refused his assent to HB 436 and why he made that decision. HB 436 was entitled the “Second Amendment Preservation Act” and would have denied to the federal government the authority to enact any statutes, rules, regulations, or executive orders “which restrict or prohibit the manufacture, ownership, and use of firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition exclusively within the borders of Missouri.”
Now, with the state senate’s failure to override Nixon’s veto, one supposes, the federal government is free to impose its unconstitutional control of the God-given right to keep and bear arms within the formerly sovereign borders of the Show Me State.
In the letter accompanying his veto notification letter, Governor Nixon lists his objections under two headings: Supremacy Clause violation and First Amendment free speech clause violations. The explanation given under the second section is such a stretch as to obviate any need to deconstruct. As to the first, it demonstrates a common constitutional misunderstanding and thus merits correction.
A statement made by the governor just before the senate’s unsuccessful effort to override his veto reveals he hasn’t learned much about the Constitution since he refused to sign the Second Amendment Preservation Act.
"It's unconstitutional, it's unsafe and it's unnecessary," Nixon told the press gathered at the state capitol to record the vote.
In an article reporting on the events published on Wednesday, the Associated Press demonstrated the same lack of constitutional competency, writing, “the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution ... gives precedence to federal laws over conflicting state ones.”
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