May 5, 2025

HB 1175 (2025) threatens a decade of work we have all invested in the Second Amendment Preservation Act.

Now I need your help stopping HB 1175.

When we began the Missouri SAPA project in January of 2013, we had very specific goals and a written manifesto of sorts to guide the project. The holy grail of the project has always been a statute that makes effective use of the anti-commandeering doctrine to protect gun rights and ends up with the U.S. Supreme Court agreeing to Missouri's right to apply that doctrine.

Amazingly, we passed the Second Amendment Preservation Act that first year – 2013 – but Governor Nixon vetoed it. Nine years of arduous work by a host of liberty-minded organizations and individual patriots, and a new governor, resulted in success in 2021.

It was a real team effort.

Other states passed sorta-SAPA bills, but none had “teeth” like MO SAPA. None were enough of a threat to federal power to warrant their concern, but the DOJ did not like the effectiveness of MO SAPA and they sued.

March of 2023 the DOJ won an opinion about which former FOX judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said is, "One of the worst judicial opinions I've ever reviewed in the modern era."

The DOJ also won an 8th Circuit appeal, but only on very narrow grounds. In essence, the 8th Circuit said Missouri could apply the anti-commandeering doctrine and withhold state support of federal gun control, but we just can't explain WHY were are doing so in statute.

That gave us a chance to get the issue in front of the U.S. Supreme Court and, indeed, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey petitioned them to take the case.

As of May 4, 2025 we are closer than ever to achieving our “holy grail” objective, but a bill about to be taken up in the Missouri Senate will dash it all. The irony is that this bill is being pitched as the “SAPA fix”.

It's time for us to work together again, this time to kill HB 1175 and we need to act fast because the Senate may take it up for final passage as early as Monday evening.

I need you to call AND email your state senator and any other senator you know and tell them the timing is not right to enact a SAPA fix and HB 1175 would not be the right bill even if the timing was right.

Scroll to the end for instructions, but first let me arm you with information – the three reasons HB 1175 should die.

(1) THE TIME IS NOT RIGHT FOR A SAPA "FIX"

The Trump DOJ may be signaling a reversal of the Biden DOJ's position on Missouri's SAPA.

If SAPA is changed at all, the Supreme Court will almost certainly declare the DOJ case to be moot. If SAPA remains unchanged, there is good reason to believe we may end up in a Supreme Court that has been very friendly to both the 2nd and 10th Amendments.

The new Trump DOJ has been gun rights friendly, too. They appear to be reversing the Biden DOJ's stand in a case involving suppressors and on May 1st the new DOJ actually formally asked the Supreme Court to take up a gun rights case out of Hawaii – the very thing we are hoping they will do in the SAPA case.

Remember, it was the Biden Department of Justice that sued Missouri over the Second Amendment Preservation Act.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case, but not before asking for an extension on the deadline so he could file it after the Trump DOJ took over from the Biden DOJ.
On April 28th the Trump administration DOJ received its third extension of their deadline to supply an answer to the Bailey's petition for cert. Their answer is now due on May 27.

It's typical for an opposing party to file objections to a request for SCOTUS to take up a case within 30 days, but this unusual delay may be because they want to see if our SAPA law is changed, which will moot the federal court case.

Considering the fact that the Trump DOJ's Solicitor General is none other than Missouri's own John Sauer, who as our state's Solicitor General defended SAPA, it's not unreasonable to assume that the new DOJ will concur with AG Bailey's request that SCOTUS take up the case.

At least three SCOTUS justices have already signaled support for SAPA and it only takes four to agree to take the case up.

Again, from 2013 onward, our hope and aspiration for MO SAPA has always been a Supreme Court ruling affirming the principles of federalism and the use of the anti-commandeering doctrine in the Second Amendment arena. That opportunity may be just around the corner if HB 1175 doesn't ruin it.


(2) HB 1175 UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

Independent of the mootness concern, HB 1175 has a fundamental problem in that it expands the scope of SAPA from forbidding state participation in enforcing federal infringements on the right to bear arms, to ANY federal law "regarding firearms."

Not all federal laws "regarding firearms" are hostile to private gun ownership. Some relate to military and law-enforcement use of firearms that in no way infringe on Missourian's rights.

For instance, the Law Enforcement Support Office is a division under the United States Department of Defense that supplies local law enforcement agencies with equipment, including items "regarding firearms." HB 1175 and SB 23 would penalize individuals and agencies for "participat[ing] in any way" with this program.

Another federal law "regarding firearms" is the Civilian Marksmanship Program. Although technically now a private entity, it began as an federal government organization in 1903 and is still enabled by federal laws "regarding firearms." I was a beneficiary of this program nearly 50 years ago when my high school rifle team received free target rifles.

A potential NEW federal law "regarding firearms" working its way through Congress right now is HR 38, the National Conceal Carry Reciprocity Act. An unintended consequence of HB 1175 and SB 23 would be penalizing people who "participated in any way in the enforcement or implementation" of the National Conceal Carry Reciprocity Act.

Even the Second Amendment, itself, is a federal law regarding firearms. HB 1175 could penalize for upholding the 2nd Amendment!


(3) THE BILL TITLE DOES NOT PROTECT HB 1175 FROM BAD AMENDMENTS

The final concern is that the title for HB 1175 does not adequately protect it from unfriendly amendments. There is good reason to believer that powerful members of the Senate want to strip SAPA of its enforcement provisions.

Even if the bill sponsor was committed to pulling his own bill if it was amended with even more bad language than it already has, it's just not politically wise to set the precedent of damaging what is currently an excellent law.

Just as we did between 2013 and 2021, we need to bide our time until the conditions are right

Considering the problems with the SAPA "fix" bills and the potential to go the Supreme Court, the Senate should NOT take up HB 1175. Let's see what SCOTUS does before tinkering with a good law.

Please call AND email your senator and any other senator you know and tell the you don't want HB 1175 to be taken to the floor.