I believe that Governor Mike Parson has made his point. The only entities that might fail to grasp it might be Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice and Joe Biden’s White House, though. And perhaps the Associated Press:

The Justice Department is warning Missouri officials that the state can’t ignore federal law, after the governor signed a bill last week that bans police from enforcing federal gun rules.

In a letter sent Wednesday night and obtained by The Associated Press, Justice officials said the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause outweighs the measure that Gov. Mike Parson signed into law Saturday. The new rules penalize local police departments if their officers enforce federal gun laws.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton said the law threatens to disrupt the working relationship between federal and local authorities, they said in the letter, noting that Missouri receives federal grants and technical assistance.

“The public safety of the people of the United States and citizens of Missouri is paramount,” Boynton wrote in the letter.

Let me rewrite this for the Associated Press, using a word that never comes up at all in this report:

The Justice Department is warning Missouri officials that the state can’t ignore federal law, after the governor signed a bill last week that bans police from enforcing federal immigration rules.

In a letter sent Wednesday night and obtained by The Associated Press, Justice officials said the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause outweighs the measure that Gov. Mike Parson signed into law Saturday. The new rules penalize local police departments if their officers enforce federal immigration laws.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton said the law threatens to disrupt the working relationship between federal and local authorities, they said in the letter, noting that Missouri receives federal grants and technical assistance.

“The public safety of the people of the United States and citizens of Missouri is paramount,” Boynton wrote in the letter.

That’s the context which the AP misses, but it as plain as the nose on one’s face. If Parson had signed a bill declaring Missouri an immigration sanctuary state, Garland and the DoJ wouldn’t have batted an eye about it. And yet, the same principle is true — states that ignore and refuse to cooperate with federal immigration law violate the Supremacy Clause, put public safety at risk, and should risk federal grants and technical assistance on that basis as well.

Amusingly, however, the AP never even mentions immigration or sanctuary status in its report. That is not just the clear context of Parson’s move, it’s also the precedent on which it’s based. The Obama-Biden administration did nothing to discourage cities and states from refusing to cooperate with federal law on immigration; neither Eric Holder nor Loretta Lynch sent scolding reminders about the Supremacy Clause to the leaders of sanctuary cities and states. And that prevented local law enforcement from engaging with federal immigration authorities over people who were being arrested for violating the public peace apart from their status as illegal immigrants.

So while the DoJ may be technically correct about the Supremacy Clause, they’re awfully arbitrary about when they choose to get their panties in a twist over it. And one has to suspect that’s what Parson wanted to demonstrate all along.