States regroup on push against federal gun controls

Conservative lawmakers in Missouri are seeking to band together with allies in other states to mount a new push against federal gun regulations, The Associated Press reports.

More than two dozen states took up consideration of so-called “nullification” laws last year to exempt them from certain gun laws being advocated in response to the Newtown, Conn., elementary school shooting spree the previous December.

The courts have repeatedly said states cannot ignore federal gun statutes, and the Obama administration has threatened a legal fight against a 2012 Kansas law, which would make felons of federal authorities who seek to enforce any federal “act, law, treaty, order, rule or regulation” in violation of the state law.

Now, according to The Associated Press, neighboring Kansas is taking “a new tack this year: banding together with other like-minded states to defy certain federal laws at the same time.”

“Supporters believe it will be more difficult for the federal government to shrug off such statutes if more states act together,” the AP writes.

Check out the full Associated Press story here.