Missouri Gov. Parson’s gun law echoes actions that led to the start of the Civil War

This month, Gov. Mike Parson signed the Second Amendment Preservation Act, which proclaimed Missouri would no longer enforce federal gun laws. His reason was that it “demonstrates our commitment to reject any attempt by the federal government to circumvent the fundamental right Missourians have to keep and bear arms to protect themselves and their property.” The U.S. Department of Justice issued a statement that the state does not possess the authority to enact or enforce such a law.

The actions of the state of Missouri are unconstitutional. In Article VI Clause 2, the U.S. Constitution affirms it is the “supreme law of the land.” Though the Tenth Amendment allows the individual states their sovereignty within their sphere of influence, all of the laws passed by state and local authorities must be enforced by lower governmental agencies.

This doctrine of federal sovereignty has been reaffirmed time and again. In its 1803 decision in Marbury v. Madison, the U.S. Supreme Court stated, “a law repugnant to the Constitution is void, and that courts, as well as other departments, are bound by that instrument.”

In 1819’s McCulloch v. Maryland, the court further defined the federal government’s constitutional sovereignty when it stated the States held no power “to retard, impede, burden, or in any manner control the operations of the constitutional laws enacted by Congress”.

Furthermore, in 1859’s Ableman v. Booth, the court said again a state’s right to circumvent or nullify a federal law “certainly has not been conferred on them by the United States.”

And the implications of Missouri’s new law are terrifying.

Americans have witnessed such state defiance against the federal government before. Congress passed the protective Tariff Act of 1828, and it was signed into law by President John Quincy Adams. Calling it the “Tariff of Abominations,” Southerners fumed it was discriminatory. In opposition, Vice President John C. Calhoun anonymously argued in his “South Carolina Exposition and Protest” that a federal law could be declared null and void and its enforcement prohibited by the individual states.

On Nov. 24, 1832, South Carolina passed the Ordinance of Nullification, which forbade all collections mandated by the Tariff Act. President Andrew Jackson issued a declaration that denied the power of the states to block enforcement of a federal law and threatened armed intervention to collect the duties. Congress then passed both the Force Act of 1833, which authorized the president to use federal military force against South Carolina, as well as a compromise tariff bill. South Carolina backed down by accepting the new tariff act, and thus averted armed conflict with the federal government.

Calhoun’s theory of state nullification influenced Southern political thought and paved the way for secession in 1860. Though all of the Southern states had rejected both nullification and secession in 1832, within a generation all had adopted both in dissent against the election of President Abraham Lincoln. In the Civil War that followed, the combined military casualties totaled more than 660,000 — greater than all Americans killed in every other war combined. The sole issue it resolved was the sovereignty of the federal government under the Constitution.

Beginning with Edward Pollard’s 1866 treatise “The Lost Cause: A New Southern History of the War of the Confederates,” Southerners adopted a new nationalism based upon a mixture of patriotism and rebellion now rife within American culture and politics. Add to this the destruction of the public education system and the dumbing down of its citizens, and what you have is a recipe for a militaristic society easily led under the banner of “God and country.”

What can be achieved by Missouri’s refusal to enforce federal statutes other than a second Civil War? Though not seen at the time as a precursor to internal bloodletting, the outcome of the 1832 nullification crisis was indeed the first step toward national fratricide. Thus, Parson’s actions this month were an example of a country refusing to learn the essential lessons taught by its own history.

And the question remains: Do we really want to go down that road again?

Michael J C Taylor is a retired university professor and author of “The Preamble and Mission of the Constitution” and “The Constitution and the American Presidency.”

This story was originally published June 30, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Missouri Gov. Parson’s gun law echoes actions that led to the start of the Civil War."