JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – After President Barack Obama’s announcement of an executive order Tuesday that would regulate the sale of firearms with further background checks and more resources devoted to the enforcement of those checks, Republicans and 2nd Amendment supporters around the country cried foul.
On the first day of Missouri’s legislative session Wednesday while many senators took points of personal privilege to address special guests to the chambers, Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, took a point of personal privilege to address that executive order, calling aspects of it troubling, especially after investigations last year found that some veterans could not pass background checks.
“So I ask moving forward… that we evaluate what that executive order does to the Second Amendment right of Missourians, particularly in light of the fact of the recent passage of Amendment 5, where Missourians overwhelmingly chose to strengthen their Second Amendment rights,” Schaefer said.
Sen. Wayne Wallingford, R-Cape Girardeau, weighed in Tuesday with a post on social media in strong support of Second Amendment rights, which many feel the executive order will infringe upon.
“I am alarmed by President Obama’s anti-gun executive order,” Wallingford said. “The Second Amendment is a key part of our Constitution, and the President does not have the authority to overrule our fundamental rights. Rest assured, I will fight any attempt to usurp our right to keep and bear arms.”
However, Democrats have largely supported Obama’s measure.
Rep. Stacey Newman, D-St. Louis, said that inaction by Congress and in some state legislatures did not reflect that most people want expanded background checks on anyone buying a firearm.
“Ninety percent of Americans and 80 percent of Missourians are in favor of this. This is gun owners, NRA members, you even heard the Speaker say today we are here to represent the people, and this is what the people have said over and over and over.”
Gov. Jay Nixon Tuesday noted he had not read the specific order, and thus could not explicitly support it. However, he added that he supported background checks to screen felons and the mentally ill.
