The state legislature has enacted a new state gun law by rejecting one of Governor Jay Nixon’s vetoes.
Representative Kevin Elmer, R-Nixa, carried the gun legislation in the House.
The bill allows Missourians with concealed carry permits to openly carry firearms even where local governments have ordinances against it, and requires the Department of Public Safety to create a training program for teachers that school districts could then allow to carry guns in schools.
The legislation is SB 656.
St. Louis Democrat Stacey Newman says the bill is not an answer to gun violence and won’t make Missourians safer.
Newman criticizes, the bill allows for “Secretly arming teachers and open carry of any gun anywhere, abolishing local community ordinances.”
Harrisonville Republican Rick Brattin says the bill will allow law-abiding citizens to protect themselves.
“Do we want to do things like this?” Brattin asked of the provisions in the bill. “Do we wish we lived in a different world? Absolutely. I wish no one had to ever pull the trigger to defend themselves. I wish that was never the case, but that’s not the world we live in, folks.”
The bill also lowers the age at which a person can obtain a concealed carry permit from 21 to 19.
See how the members of the House voted on the override of SB 656
Nixon had vetoed the bill saying it would not make schools safer, and saying teachers should be focused on teaching kids rather than on carrying firearms.
The changes would take effect in about a month.
