Officials in one Missouri County are refusing to work with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) claiming that the federal agency is unconstitutional.
According to the NPR affiliate KCUR, ATF agents needed zoning information so the agency can complete the applications for four people who want to open gun stores in Camden County, but six top officials in the county sent a letter to the ATF office refusing to cooperate.
“Under the Anti-Commandeering Doctrine, Camden County was the first county in Missouri, and possibly in the country, to pass an ordinance prohibiting any county employee from assisting your unconstitutional agency in violating the rights of our citizens,” Camden County presiding commissioner Ike Skelton wrote in the letter.
The county’s attorney, sheriff, treasurer, along with two of Skelton’s commission colleagues signed on to the letter.
“We are in lockstep with this thought process. Any and all federal firearms laws, so-called laws, in my opinion, and many others’ opinion, are unconstitutional,” Skelton told KCUR.
The ATF is required by law to check zoning and other laws before granting a Federal Firearms License. Camden County officials cited the Missouri Second Amendment Preservation Act which was signed into law in 2021. The law seeks to nullify federal gun laws. However, a judge ruled last month that the law is unconstitutional.
The law remains in effect while the state appeals the judge’s ruling.
John Ham, the spokesperson for the ATF’s Kansas City Field office, told KCUR that the bureau is trying to help people open gun stores, not take away their guns.
“We use that information to put people in business, not to take people out of business,” Ham said, adding that he had never seen a county refuse to provide such information, which is required to open any new gun businesses.
