Nice try, Kansas. Attorney General Eric Holder is taking aim at your new gun rights legislation.
Holder wrote a letter to Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, informing him that the state’s new legislation — which would void federal regulation of some guns in the state — is “unconstitutional.”
“In purporting to override federal law and to criminalize the official acts of federal officers, [the law] directly conflicts with federal law and is therefore unconstitutional,” the AG wrote in a letter dated April 26.
The Kansas law, “The Second Amendment Protection Act,” became effective on April 25. The bill passed the Kansas state Senate and House by large margins before Brownback signed it in mid-April. The legislation disallows the federal government from regulating guns and ammunition sold and kept in the state. The law also says the state will charge federal agents with felonies for trying to enforce federal laws that go against the Act.
In his letter, Holder cited the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says that federal laws overrides conflicting state laws. He also said authorities would continue to enforce federal laws in the state and threatened to use litigation — if necessary — to “prevent the State of Kansas from interfering with the activities of federal officials enforcing federal law.”
In anticipation of a legal battle, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s office has asked lawmakers to increase its budget by $225,000 over the next two years.
Sounds like Kansas and the federal government are gearing up for a big battle.
