Five traitors is all it took.

 

Five.  That’s all the vote-switchers that anti-gunners had to muster in the Missouri Senate to kill a nullification bill BY ONE VOTE.  Gun Owners of America had pushed the bill back in the spring when it was overwhelmingly passed by the House and Senate.  Sadly, it was vetoed by Governor Jay Nixon shortly thereafter -- and the veto override fell just one vote short this week.

Governor Jay Nixon (D) vetoed HB 436 this spring, after the Missouri House and Senate had overwhelmingly passed it.  Among other things, the nullification bill would have made it illegal in Missouri to enforce unconstitutional laws that take away people’s Second Amendment rights.

This week, while the House voted to override Gov. Nixon’s veto (109-49), the Senate fell just one vote short at 22-12 -- when 23 votes were needed.

There were several vote-switchers in each chamber, but obviously, it was the traitors in the Senate that sunk the bill.  Majority Leader Ron Richard (R-Joplin) explained his flip-flop this way:

“Nullification is OK to make a statement, but if you are going to put it in law, it sends a signal that maybe you haven’t read the Constitution, especially our amateur constitutional scholars.”

Translated:  I’ll vote for the bill to look good in the eyes of my constituents when I know the Governor will veto it.  But if my vote is needed to uphold the Governor’s veto, well then, that’s another story.

The five vote switchers in each chamber were the following.

House
Linda Black (D-117)
Pat Conway (D-10)
Keith English (D-68)
Steve Hodges (D-149)
Penny Hubbard (D-78)

Senate
Tom Dempsey (R-23)
Paul LeVota (D-11)
Ron Richard (R-32)
Scott Sifton (D-1)
Gina Walsh (D-13)

You can see how the other legislators voted by going here. (Scroll down to page 26 for the House vote and to page 28 for the Senate.)

And Missourians can use GOA’s Engage system to craft their own letters to their state Representative and Senator -- to either thank them or “spank” them.