Sen. Eric Burlison and MOFC’s Aaron Dorr speak in committee for SAPA legislation. Photo provided by MOFC.
Jefferson City, MO — Representative Jered Taylor and Senator Eric Burlison refuse to take no for an answer when it comes to Missouri’s gun rights. We reported last year when Taylor and Burlison respectively filed bills called the Second Amendment Preservation Act, a bill that would nullify all federal gun laws in the state of Missouri.
Sen. Eric Burlison (R-Battlefield) came back this year and filed Senate Bill 39 (SB39) on Dec.1st. The same day, Rep. Jered Taylor filed House Bill 85 (HB85) in the House.
During the 2020 legislative session, the bills, collectively nicknamed SAPA, were storming through the legislature — with Taylor’s House bill getting nearly 90 cosponsors out of a total of 116 members!
But then Covid came to town and the legislative session was effectively cut off at the knees in April, stealing all the momentum and pressure that gun owners had brought on their legislators to pass the bill.
Once the pressure was off, Senate Committee Chairman Republican Doug Libla killed the bill in the Senate.
In the House, SAPA was left to die thanks in part to moderates Republicans who didn’t like the bill in the first place and, ultimately, the response to the Corona Scare.
Grassroots Gun Owners Are Changing The Gun Rights Landscape
Burlison and Taylor have been immune to pressure from moderate Republicans to sell out on gun rights in part because the two gun rights champions have worked hand-in-glove with the state’s largest and most powerful gun rights organization, the Missouri Firearms Coalition.
This organization is behind several key primary victories that we reported on earlier this fall. From kicking out bad RINOs to helping real pro-gun candidates win, MOFC and her members and supporters really flexed their muscle on the political landscape in 2020.
Thanks to political protection from MOFC — and the fact that tens of thousands of gun owners in the state are kept up to day by the gun group — the two legislators were able to plow past any moderate Republicans who might have wanted to water down the bill.
Gun owners standing up for their gun rights — and supporting and protecting their legislative champions — is how to stop the anti-gun left in 2021!
The Best Bills In The Country
Just what do Burlison and Taylor’s bills consider to be a federal “infringement” on the Second Amendment? Here is a partial list:
- Any taxes and fees on firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition not common to all other goods and services that would have a chilling effect on the purchase or ownership of those items by law-abiding citizens;
- Any registration and tracking schemes applied to firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition that would have a chilling effect;
- Any act forbidding the possession, ownership, or use or transfer of a firearm, firearm accessory, or ammunition by law-abiding citizens;
- Any act ordering the confiscation of firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition from law-abiding citizens.
The Teeth To Back It Up!
We reported dozens of times last year on the explosive growth of the Second Amendment Sanctuary movement. A question that came up time and again was “Where are the teeth ‘to these Second Amendment Sanctuaries. How can these bills be effective in what they’re trying to accomplish”
It nearly always comes down to two things: funding and punishment.
Cutting off funding for government agencies who try to enforce gun control is one ‘bite’ that localities can take. The other ‘bite’ is whether or not there are any legal punishments for enforcing federal gun control laws.
This SAPA bill has both, but it goes further! Any citizen whose gun rights are infringed can sue for damages! So if some St. Louis cop is enforcing federal gun control in that city…well, under this bill, the person whose gun rights were violated can sue the officer and the City of St. Louis in civil court!
YES! They can sue for punitive damages in civil court if their gun rights are trampled!
This is a huge slap in the face for the gun control crowd in Jefferson City!
SAPA Is The Future Of Gun Owners And Missouri Is Leading The Charge
With the prospect of a Joe Biden presidency staring down the barrel at gun owners, this sort of SAPA legislation is going to be the future of the fight to stop nasty gun control coming from the federal level.
Missouri is out in front of this movement, leading the charge in showing other states how to protect themselves from the unconstitutional gun control that an anti-gun President and legislature might try to ram through!
And for what it’s worth, that means that Taylor and Burlison are the point of the spear for gun rights legislation in the entire country heading into the 2021 legislative session. Missouri’s gun owners are lucky to have them both!
Meanwhile, we expect to see this sort of legislation being filed all over the country — and soon!