Missouri's new law permitting concealed carry was to go into effect today, 30 days after it become law on September 11 (no one noted the significance of that date, as I remember) after the legislature overrode Gov. Holden's veto. At the last minute (as Jack Nicholson might ask, "is there any other kind," when it comes to illiberal attempts to overturn the will of the electorate?), opponents of Missouri's concealed carry law found a city judge (a city judge!) in St. Louis willing to save us from ourselves and issue an injunction against the new concealed carry law. Or as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on dead tree headline today put it:
CITY JUDGE BLOCKS STATE CONCEALED WEAPONS LAW
With a subheadline:
Judge's ruling says a 10-year-old could understand that the law violates Missouri Constitution
I guess that means it took 29 days for the opponents of concealed carry to find a judge that thinks like a 10-year-old. For the record, here's the relevant part of the Missouri State Constitution for those older than 10:
That the right of every citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person and property, or when lawfully summoned in aid of the civil power, shall not be questioned; but this shall not justify the wearing of concealed weapons.
Well, I'm not a lawyer, as people like to say, but I don't think you have to be a lawyer to understand that there's nothing here that inhibites the civil powers, i.e., the Missouri legislature, from passing a law that allows concealed weapons either. Why, oh why do these objections only pop up at the last minute? Now we are all waiting for the Missouri Supreme Court to weigh in, which unfortunately won't be any time soon since:
A [Missouri] Supreme Court official said Friday evening the court would not act immediately.
I've never been much of a fan of populism, but I may reconsider my feelings on this topic if the Angry Left continues to run to the courts to defeat the will of the people every time the damn proles don't, in their not so humble opinion, know what's good for them.