The state House wants to pull the concealed carry permitting system from the Revenue Department and put it in the hands of county sheriffs. It has given initial approval to a bill that changes conceal & carry endorsements that now go on driver’s and non-driver’s licenses into permits, and gives the power to issue those permits to county sheriffs instead of the Department.
Representative Rick Brattin (R-Harrisonville) says he filed HB 859 in response to recent issues with how applicants’ information has been handled.
“It will put a stop to the practices of the Department of Revenue where they’ve been scanning our source documentation, for what reasons we don’t know yet. This would just remove that and just simplify it for every single … John Q. Taxpayer and every person that is moving to get their CCW endorsement.”
The bill proposes transferring ID processing equipment no longer used by the Department to the state’s sheriffs.
Added to the bill on the House floor is Brattin’s amendment that would let the state’s school districts designate teachers or administrators as “school protection officers.” Those officers would be allowed to carry concealed weapons on school property, if they have a valid concealed carry status and meet other training requirements.
Brattin says that would protect schools and children, but the idea doesn’t fly with Representative Genise Montecillo (D-St. Louis), a former St. Louis school teacher.
“This is outrageous. First of all, we rarely even have places to secure our purses, let alone weapons, in our classroom … we are not trained in emergency situations like that. One class that we go take or going and getting a concealed carry weapon permit is not going to train people who do not do that on a daily basis.”
The same language has already been added to another bill, HB 436, that has been sent to the Senate.
Other provisions would eliminate the requirement that concealed carry endorsements be renewed and make them valid for life unless suspended or revoked, bar business owners from keeping employees from having firearms in personal vehicles, keep state agencies from sharing a list of Missouri concealed carry holders with the federal government and stiffens penalties for felons having or using a gun in the commission of a felony.
The package needs another favorable vote to go to the Senate.