Regular attendees at these services might recall that last year, at the behest of State Auditor Tom Schweich, we revisited the issue of whether a Governor could appoint a Lieutenant Governor if a vacancy occurred in that office. The congregation will recall that there was at that time the possibility that the incumbent Lite Guv would be seeking a higher-paying job in Washington, D.C.  In the process we offered up a sacrificial lamb who would accept such an appointment if such a vacancy came about thus becoming a target for the lawsuit that would be sure to follow since he had nothing to gain or lose  regardless of how the lawsuit turned out.  Subsequent events made the situation into what an associate calls a “moo point,” meaning that not even the cows care about it.  The Lieutenant Governor did not go to Washington and the legisalture passed a law that clarified the issue.  

The potential arises now for a new lambness.  .

Governor Nixon has vetoed House Bill 436, proclaimed by its sponsors as the “Second Amendment Preservation Act.”  Of course, in “preserving” the Second Amendment, the people who passed the bill seemed to blatantly violate the FIRST Amendment.  We have heard some suggest that  all other rights depend on the right to bear arms, sort of the  “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” argument that Chairman Mao said in 1938 that all Communists have to believe. 

The Governor’s veto message laid out in solid legal discussion the reasons the nullification sections of this bill are unconstitutional.  And if the legislature overrides the veto in September we know right away that the state will be spending a lot of money in court defending its position that it alone can decide what federal laws will be honored in Missouri.  We, however, wish to offer our lambness on one particular provisions because it involves the First Amendment, which, Chairman Mao notwithstanding, separates this nation from all others. 

The section in question is this one:

 571.011. 1. No person or entity shall publish the name, address, or other identifying

information of any individual who owns a firearm or who is an applicant for or holder of

any license, certificate, permit, or endorsement which allows such individual to own,

acquire, possess, or carry a firearm.

2. For purposes of this section, “publish” means to issue information or material

in printed or electronic form for distribution or sale to the public.

3. Any person or entity who violates the provisions of this section by publishing

identifying information protected under this section is guilty of a class A misdemeanor.

 Governor Nixon pointed out in his veto message the kind of mischief this clear contradiction of the First Amendment  could bring about. So here is the deal:

If this veto is overridden in September, the Missourinet will publish in this space immediately upon the effective date of the new law two names of gun owners.  One will be that of the lamb who in this case is the possessor of a BB gun, his father’s Sears .22 rifle and his father’s shotgun.  .

The other name that will appear in this space will be that of another gun owner, Jeremiah Nixon.  And since deer season will be underway by the time the overridden bill becomes law and since Governor Nixon will no doubt have bagged his deer (some friends have recently asked how many people know of anybody  who has gone out for one day in each deer season and killed a deer on the only day out for several years in a row) we will do our best to obtain a photo of the deer slayer with his deer AND HIS GUN so that we can publish that, too.   Then  we’ll see if the people who think HB436 is such a wonderful thing immediately call the Cole County Sheriff demanding that the lamb be caged because this is such a blatant violation of their law by the person whose name will appear at the top of that entry.   

The lamb will give you OUR constitutional rights when you pry them from our cold, dead hooves.