Defang the police

The next best thing to defunding

IT BOILS DOWN to this: Who is the General Assembly trying to help? Cops or robbers? The news broke after lunch yesterday that a committee in the Arkansas House of Representatives had endorsed new legislation which might could take the place of Senate Bill 298, which has been causing so much trouble lately. We suppose a timeline is in order. Some members of the Ledge—as in the thing you stand on before you jump to perdition—decided it would do wonders for their political résumés if they passed a pro-gun bill this session. Not that there were any anti-gun bills to fight against, even coming out of Washington. But as the cowboys said about their pistols in the Old West, better to have one and not need it than to need one and not have it.

So legislation was introduced that would nullify federal law in Arkansas by telling local and state law enforcement officers not to work with the feds on gun laws. Included in the law were penalties for cops. Fines, even. All this so a handful of lawmakers could show their Second Amendment bona fides back home during the next primary season.

To which prosecutors and other cops said, collectively, “Huh?”

Prosecutors often use federal laws to put away bad guys for longer periods than state laws allow. Thugs get out of state prison early for a variety of reasons. It’s harder for a defense attorney to get a presidential pardon to free a convict from the federal pen. Prosecutors came out against SB298, some saying they might appreciate the thought, but hundreds of cases were at risk.

So the state’s top executive, who used to be a prosecutor of some note, vetoed SB298. Gov. Asa Hutchinson noted its constitutional problems—there’s the whole thing about the U.S. Constitution Supremacy Clause, for example—but surely the Guv knows how much trouble such a bill would cause the men and women in uniform. Not to mention those in suits and ties in the courtroom, speaking on behalf of the state.

The state Senate didn’t much care about all that, apparently. On Monday it voted to override the governor’s veto. Take that, prosecutors!

It didn’t matter that the papers were full of comments from law enforcement officials explaining how this would negatively affect their ability to fight crime.

And how current cases could fall apart if local and state cops decide they might face financial penalties if they testified in court in cooperation with federal officials.

Some of us assumed, however, that the House would override the governor’s veto, too, given how much publicity would come with “standing up for the Constitution.” Or at least one part of it while scoffing at other parts.

Then the whole thing would go before the courts, at taxpayer expense, and the judicial branch would (once again) throw out a nullification law such as this one. And uphold not only the Supremacy Clause, but the whole of Article III of the Constitution, in which the federal courts are the final referee in such disputes.

Then we were surprised. A FLASH! came over the AP wire Tuesday afternoon. The article said that the General Assembly, or at least the House of Representatives, had reworked the whole idea, if not SB298, and the House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee had endorsed the new way. The new proposal would “declare” any federal gun restrictions “enacted on or after Jan. 1” invalid and not recognized by the state.

A very partial observer might realize that even that would quickly be thrown out of court. But at least it wouldn’t jeopardize current gun cases against a variety of bad guys.

The AP story said, “It was unclear whether the House would also try to override the veto now that the reworked version has advanced.”

The news is “fluid,” as folks in the business call it. Best to look to the front page today to see the latest. But some of us hope cooler heads prevail in the state House of Representatives. Or at least that state reps will listen to the cops back in their districts.

A lot has been made over the last few months about the possibility of “defunding the police.” It hasn’t caught on here in Arkansas. But SB298, if kept as is, might actually defang police. Which is just as good as defunding, from a particular point of view.

As we said earlier, it really does come down to this:

Who is the General Assembly trying to help? Cops or robbers?