A swath of Republican governors and legislators are pushing proposals for gun "sanctuary states," aimed at making states immune from federal firearms laws.
Republican members of Congress aren't in agreement, though. Even if they're sympathetic to the Second Amendment goals of the "sanctuary states" drive.
“State law is subordinate to federal law, but I like it when states are speaking up about the right to responsibly own a gun," Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, told the Washington Examiner. “I think it's a symbolic statement. Federal law controls here. We have a national background check system. No state can do away with that.”
The "sanctuary state" movement is largely a reaction to gun control measures President Joe Biden and lawmakers in the Democratic-controlled Senate and House are trying to pass. The drive accelerated in the wake of deadly mass shootings in Atlanta, Georgia, and Boulder, Colorado, on top of years of gun violence episodes in places such as Newtown, Connecticut, and Charleston, South Carolina, among many others.
ARIZONA BECOMES SECOND AMENDMENT 'SANCTUARY' AHEAD OF BIDEN GUN CONTROL ORDERS
Biden recently signed an executive order aimed at cracking down on so-called ghost guns, or firearms assembled from kits. The Biden administration is also calling for a ban on "assault-style weapons" and wants to close background check loopholes.
Biden, a former Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, also favors legislation to strip gun manufacturers of their immunity from liability lawsuits. But that would require an act of Congress, a tall order with Democrats holding the slimmest of majorities in both chambers.
A handful of Republican governors and state legislators have recently moved to thwart these measures. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted on April 7 that “Second Amendment Sanctuary State” legislation would be coming soon.
“This is what I’m seeking for Texas — a law to defy any new federal gun control laws. It will make Texas a Second Amendment Sanctuary State. Legislation is moving in the Texas House and Senate. I look forward to signing it,” Abbott said.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed such a bill into law the next day.
“There is a lot of discussion out of Washington about congressional action around the Second Amendment, and this law was simply to protect the rights we already enjoy in Arizona,” Ducey said.
The "sanctuary" concept is modeled on long-standing practices in Democratic-run states and cities refusing to cooperate with federal immigration authorities when seeking to detain criminal aliens.
Second Amendment sanctuaries first surfaced in 2018 when Effingham County, Illinois, passed several resolutions against a state ban on bump stocks and the federal mandatory 72-hour waiting period on gun purchases.
But efforts to circumvent federal law aren't the way to go, Republicans in Washington say.
“I think the federal gun legislation should always be preemptive," said Sen. Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican. "That doesn't mean that states could do more, but they couldn't do less.”
Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, though, applauded the state efforts.
“I think it's terrific. I think Texans want to see the Second Amendment protected and defended," Cruz told the Washington Examiner. “Unfortunately, the Biden administration, I believe, has a deep and abiding antipathy to protecting our constitutional right to keep and bear arms.”
However, Cruz said the success of the state legislation relies on what the Biden administration tries to do and what role, if any, state officials are expected to play in that.
“I think it is part of the constitutional system of checks and balances, and the states are able to press back against federal overreach, and you see it on both sides,” he argued. “When you have a Republican president, you see blue states pressing back on policies with which they disagree.”
Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican and chairman of the Second Amendment Caucus in the House, said "sanctuary states" may prove a good legal case on the extent of gun rights.
"I'd love to see them test it out in the courts, and I hope they win there,” Massie said.
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Rep. Lauren Boebert, a first-term Colorado Republican and staunch Second Amendment defender, noted the divide between Republicans on Capitol Hill and at the state and local level.
“I think when Republicans talk about a sanctuary issue, they understand that it's just a resolution and taking a stand and making a statement and saying, ‘This is what we believe in. This is where we're principled, and this is the direction things should be going in,’” Boebert said.
