Officials in Camden County, Missouri are refusing to cooperate with the ATF, local reports said.
The ATF asked for the zoning information of people applying to open new gun stores, per KCUR 89.3.
Officials cited a since-struck-down state law that kept police from enforcing federal gun laws.
Missouri officials in one county have refused to work with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF, claiming that the government agency is unconstitutional.
Six top elected officials in Camden County signed a letter to the ATF saying as much, according to the NPR affiliate KCUR 89.3.
"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," Ike Skelton, the county's presiding commissioner, said in the letter.
The population of the county is roughly 43,700, according to the latest Census figures.
The officials cited the state's Second Amendment Preservation Act as grounds to refuse to cooperate, KCUR reported. Last month, a federal judge struck down the 2021 law, which prohibited local police from enforcing federal gun laws, calling it "invalid, null, void, and of no effect."
Two of Skelton's colleagues — Jeff Green, a Camden County attorney, and Tony Helms, the county sheriff — and Kendra Hicks, the county treasurer, also signed the letter, KCUR reported.
Skelton,...
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