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You are here: Home / Archives for gun control

Mother of slain boy from Sandy Hook Elementary urges Missouri parents, lawmakers to focus on mental health resources, not gun control (AUDIO)

December 16, 2013 By Jessica Machetta

It’s been one year since the mass shooting at an elementary school in Connecticut killed 20 children and six educators. The mother of a little boy who was killed that day is asking parents in Missouri to work together to prevent gun violence.

Dylan Hockley 2Nicole Hockley spent the one-year anniversary of her son, Dylan’s, death at Sandy Hook Elementary in private with her family, but has been an outspoken voice in urging all parents to advocate for preventing gun violence. Hockley recognizes that the Missouri legislature and many residents staunchly protect their right to bear arms, and says she’s not out to change that.

She stresses that her group, Sandy Hook Promise, is not supportive of taking guns or gun rights from law-abiding citizens. She notes that gun culture is deeply rooted in Missouri, and says that’s a common thread from state to state.

“Gun culture is deeply rooted across America,” she said. “At Sandy Hook Promise, we don’t support bans, we’re not interested in confiscation, and we don’t consider ourselves a gun control group. Our hope is to educate and empower parents and adults across the country to help implement solutions in their own communities that can prevent gun violence in the future. That’s in the areas of mental wellness, community connectedness, parenting and gun safety. There’s a lot that can be done just at the community level to prevent an act of violence from happening, that doesn’t require legislation.”

Although media attention focused on failed efforts to pass federal legislation to expand background checks for gun purchases, Hockley said that has always been just a part of the group’s efforts.

“Legislation isn’t the one and only answer,” she said. “We’ve been stuck in this polarized action for far too long. For several decades, nothing’s moved forward. Instead of focusing on our differences, on our politics, or our faith, or our geography, we need to focus on where we have similarities. That’s in the love that we have for our children and the desire for their well-being and safety first and above everything else.”

Dylan Hockley 3Saturday, Dec. 14, was the one year anniversary of the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn. Hockley said she spent the day as she has for every day during the past year — mourning the death of her son Dylan, who will forever be 6 years old to her.

However, she feels that to go on and mark a difference Dylan made in the world is to unite parents and policy makers in moving forward for positive change.

“It’s all about making change happen and making something positive come from this,” she said. “If it was just a senseless tragedy, I don’t know if I could live with that.”

Nicole Hockley is asking parents and lawmakers to change the conversation and agree to join Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit formed by Newtown community members and surviving parents and spouses to help the community through the atrocity and to prevent the causes of gun violence.

In the first phase of the initiative, Parent Together is asking people to make “the Sandy Hook Promise” by signing up on a Web site and pledging to join other parents to encourage and support sensible solutions that help prevent gun violence in our communities and our country.”

At the turn of the new year, Parent Together will roll out programs to help people take action in their schools and communities in the areas of mental wellness, community connectedness, parenting and gun safety. One of the programs will encourage pediatricians to use a simple diagnostic screener to assess the mental wellness of their patients. The idea is to bring a preventive approach to mental health issues in the same way it is used for physical health issues.

“That’s a simple thing we can start at an earlier stage to help our children ensure that their minds develop as healthily as their bodies develop,” Hockley said.

Hockley also spoke out on the recent release of the distress calls to 911 as the mass shooting was taking place at Sandy Hook. She says she’ll be doing the best she can to protect herself, her family and other victims’ families from having to hear them.

AUDIO: Jessica Machetta reports (:63)

AUDIO: Listen to the entire interview (10:45)

 

Filed Under: Crime / Courts, Legislature Tagged With: gun control, gun rights

KC mayor talks gun control measures (AUDIO)

June 27, 2013 By Jessica Machetta

Kansas City Mayor Sly James says gun control and violence was a hot topic at the annual conference of mayors. James has strong opinions on how to solve the problem … local control.

The Center for American Progress says Missouri ranks eighth in the nation for gun violence. The report contains some startling statistics, stating that in 2010, 62 children were killed with guns in Missouri, and had the fourth highest homicide rate with firearms in the nation. That’s 56 percent above the national average. Read the full report HERE. (Missouri statistics are on Page 57.)

Kansas City Mayor Sly James says taking illegal guns away is not an option.

“I’d like to have the ability to do something in our metropolitan area to address the issue of illegal guns, but our hands are tied,” he says. “State governments are always railing on the federal government for wanting to control them and they don’t want that, but then state governments turn around and do the same thing with cities.”

James says gun control policies must take different areas and demographics into consideration to be effective.

“This is not a one-size-fits-all situation,” he says. “What happens in Kansas City and St. Louis is not the same thing that happens in Joplin and Springfield. We need to address that. I don’t think it’s any great mystery as to why we have more homicides than other areas. It’s because we can’t do anything about the instruments used in those homicides.”

The Center for American Progress report says that in 2009, Missouri sold almost 600 guns that went on to be used in crimes in other states. And while it ranks Missouri eighth in the nation for gun violence, it puts our state fifth in the nation for aggravated assault with a firearm.

AUDIO: James talks with Jessica Machetta about gun violence (1:42)

AUDIO: Jessica Machetta reports (1:13)

 

Filed Under: Crime / Courts, News, Politics / Govt Tagged With: gun control, gun laws, guns, Kansas City

Revenue Department: scanned conceal carry applicant info is not shared with feds

March 12, 2013 By Mike Lear

The Revenue Department has explained to a House Committee why its fee offices around the state are scanning personal informaiton provided by Missourians seeking drivers and non-drivers licenses and concealed carry endorsements.

Representative Jay Barnes (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Representative Jay Barnes (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Department Director Brian Long says those scans are being made as part of an effort to “deter, detect and prosecute fraud.” Long testified that out of about 20,000 sets of documents obtained by the Department each week, about 50 are “spot checked” to look for evidence of fraud.

Long also says the scans are a deterrent.

“Individuals who are interested in fraudulently obtaining a Missouri I.D. are much less likely to approach that license clerk in that license office if they know that document they are proffering is going to be scanned and retained.”

Representative Todd Richardson (R-Poplar Bluff) says he’s not convinced that there is a security benefit from the Department making those scans.

“If the elimination of fraud is the primary justification, then scanning 50 a week out of 20,000, potentially … you’re looking for a needle in a haystack.”

Long assured the committee none of the information being scanned is being shared with the federal government.

Deputy Director John Mollenkamp explained the scanned information and other data related to licenses and endorsements is sent to state data center in Jefferson City. From there, a portion of it is sent to Morpho Trust, the company that prints licenses for the state.

Richard McIntosh, a lawyer hired last week by that company, testified that information is destroyed once the licenses are printed.

“They wanted me to let you all know they do take the matter very seriously, and they don’t share the data … and that was one of the concerns we were seeing in the papers this past week.”

Richardson says he has not seen or heard any evidence that the scanned information is being sent to the federal government, but he remains concerned about the Department retaining that data.

The Committee’s Chairman, Representative Jay Barnes (R-Jefferson City) also thinks the retention issue is a problem.

“The Department keeping all of these source documents could actually lessen the security of the documents because if that information gets hacked, rather than a person having access on an individual basis through individual fee offices, all of a sudden they have access to a treasure trove of the source documents of every Missourian with a driver’s license, which is a very dangerous thing.”

Richardson presented to the committee his bill meant to clarify and strengthen Missouri law against scanning those source documents. He says based on what he heard at the hearing, he needs to make some additions to the language.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: concealed carry permit, gun control, Jay Barnes, Missouri Department of Revenue, Missouri House of Representatives, Todd Richardson

UPDATE: Revenue Department official answers questions about concealed carry permit scans

March 7, 2013 By Mike Lear

The Revenue Department has offered an explanation for its license offices scanning personal information from concealed carry permit applicants.

Representative Todd Richardson has filed a bill meant to clarify and strengthen Missouri laws on the retention or dissemination by the Revenue Department of personal information from license applicants.  (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Representative Todd Richardson has filed a bill meant to clarify and strengthen Missouri laws on the retention or dissemination by the Revenue Department of personal information from license applicants. (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

A lawsuit was filed in Stoddard County over its license office scanning those documents. A judge then granted an order putting a temporary halt to those scans. Some GOP lawmakers say the scans alone violate state law, and some allege information is being sent to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The issue has been raised to Revenue Department Deputy Director John Mollenkamp at a hearing of the House Budget Committee. St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Elizabeth Crisp tweeted some of his remarks on the matter.

Mollenkamp told the Committee that he understands no information is being sent to the federal government. He says scanned information is being sent to a third-party vendor because printers used for licenses are too expensive for the state to own, and says other documents scanned are being sent to the state data center in Jefferson City.

Mollenkamp says more details will be released at Monday’s hearing.

Representative Todd Richardson (R-Poplar Bluff) has filed a bill to prohibit the Department from keeping copies of such documents, but he says it’s not clear yet what change needs to be made in law.

“Whether there exists a gap in the law that we need to fix is really the point of my legislation. Privacy rights are an incredibly important right that we have as Missourians and I don’t want a state department unnecessarily collecting people’s private information, and I certainly don’t want them collecting that private information and shipping it off to an out-of-state, for-profit company.”

Representative Casey Guernsey (R-Bethany) says an anonymous source working with a Revenue Department license office in his district has told him the information is going to the Department of Homeland Security. He says he thinks that state law is “plenty clear” in prohibiting the scans, and any dissemination to the federal government.

“In 2009 I was in the legislature and we passed [a law] specific to these situations … it is abundantly obvious the intent of the legislation, not to mention the language that we put in statute to prevent this sort of thing from happening.”

See our earlier stories on the scanning of concealed carry application documents.

Filed Under: Legislature, News Tagged With: Casey Guernsey, concealed carry, Department of Revenue, gun control, Stoddard County, Todd Richardson

UPDATE: Rep. Guernsey says anonymous source told him about concealed carry info going to Homeland Security

March 7, 2013 By Mike Lear

See an update on this story from 6:30pm 03/07/2013

A state lawmaker says an anonymous source has told him that a Department of Revenue license office in his district has scanned personal information from applicants for concealed carry permits and sent it to the Department of Homeland Security. 

Representative Casey Guernsey (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Representative Casey Guernsey (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Rep. Casey Guernsey (R-Bethany) says that information violates state law.

Guernsey describes his source only as someone who works with a license office in his District.

“Considering they, of course, want to remain nameless, it’s hard to really go into any further detail, I believe,” he says.

Guernsey says a 2009 law passed by the General Assembly expressly made such collections and dissemination of information illegal.

“I think it is plenty clear, and it is abundantly obvious the intent of the legislation, not to mention the language that we put in statute to prevent this sort of thing from happening.”

See the state statutes regarding these matters, 302.183 and 32.091

Even so, Guernsey has signed on to co-sponsor a proposal from Rep. Todd Richardson (R-Poplar Bluff) he says will seek to add any clarity or strength to state law regarding these procedures.

The claim the information is being sent to Homeland Security was made in an e-mail distributed Thursday morning by Guernsey and Rep. Paul Curtman (R-Pacific).  While Guernsey cites his anonymous source, Curtman admits he didn’t have a source for the claim and that he was just drawing a conclusion.

“I’m telling you from my experience in the Marine Corps that the Department of Labor is not concerned about military strategy or what the bad guys are carrying, but the people that deal with security issues are, so if we’re looking for somebody at the federal level who wants all this information on what citizens have a CCW permit, it makes sense to me tactically speaking and logically speaking … it’s the Department of Homeland Security,” Curtman says.

Curtman could not confirm that anyone at a fee office had said that the information is going to Homeland Security. 

“I probably couldn’t even answer that question for you right now because the conversations that were happening with some of the folks at the fee offices … I have not heard them say that,” he says. “Without naming any names for you right now, this information will be made public later on as more information unfolds.”

A lawsuit filed Monday in Stoddard Co. alleges that the license office in that county was refusing to give a concealed carry permit applicant his permit for failing to hand over his personal information to be scanned. A judge later issued an order stopping the scanning of such documents there.

Stoddard County Prosecutor Russ Oliver announced his suit with Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder Monday at the State Capitol. At that time, neither Oliver nor Kinder knew what was being done with the documents that were scanned.

See our story from Monday on the Stoddard County lawsuit announcement.

The House Committee on Government Oversight and Accountability will hold a hearing on Monday on the matter.

The ranking Democrat on that committee, Rep. Kevin McManus (D-Kansas City) says he wants to see what information is revealed at Monday’s hearing.

“At that point I think it would be proper to consider whatever legislative proposal we need to, to make sure that, I think number one, identities are being protected and private information’s not being released that shouldn’t be released, and number two that people are able to have whatever rights and excercise their rights for the conceal and carry permits properly under current statute that they are given that right and are able to exercise it,” McManus says.

Filed Under: Legislature, News Tagged With: Casey Guernsey, gun control, House of Representatives, Missouri Department of Revenue, Paul Curtman, Todd Richardson

Lawmakers say personal information from concealed gun permits is being sent to Homeland Security

March 7, 2013 By Mike Lear

See our update on this story, filed at 1:50pm 03/07/2013.

Two House lawmakers say the state Revenue Department is sending personal information from applicants for concealed carry permits to the Department of Homeland Security.

In an e-mail this morning, Representatives Casey Guernsey (R-Bethany) and Paul Curtman (R-Pacific) say the Revenue Department’s local fee offices are scanning those documents involved in the permit process and the concealed carry certificate and sending it to the federal government. They cite “confidential sources who work in local license offices but are scared to go public.”

The representatives say that is a violation of Missouri law. The Revenue Department has not responded to this latest allegation.

On Monday a lawsuit filed in Stoddard County alleged that permit documents were being scanned there and a judge issued an order stopping it. A Revenue Department spokesman said at that time its operations were “not inconsistent with the statutory protocols.”

Filed Under: Legislature, News Tagged With: Casey Guernsey, concealed carry permit, Department of Revenue, gun control, Paul Curtman



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