Blackhawk
March 7, 2003, 01:52 AM
Missouri House passes bill allowing concealed weapons
By BILL BELL JR. Post-Dispatch
updated: 03/06/2003 09:16 PM
JEFFERSON CITY - Carrying concealed weapons would be legal under a bill that won final approval Thursday from the Missouri House.
The bill restricts who could have a concealed weapon and where a permit holder could carry it. The measure passed on a 108-33 vote and now moves to the Senate for more debate.
The bill has many safeguards. For example, those who get the permit from their sheriff could not be a felon or have been convicted of a misdemeanor involving a crime of violence in the past five years.
Applicants would have to go through eight hours of safety training and a background check. Permits would cost $100 and be valid for three years.
Concealed weapons could not be taken into casinos, bars, prisons, or police stations but could be carried into schools, churches and child care facilities with proper approval. Members of the Legislature would be allowed to carry concealed weapons in the House and Senate chambers.
The sponsor, Rep. Larry Crawford, R-California, said the bill has some features that make gun-rights supporters skittish.
He said one of the criticisms of Proposition B was that there was no central repository of information on who would have had concealed weapons permits. Under his bill, the state Department of Revenue would keep the information and would issue a new drivers or nondrivers license with a "concealed carry endorsement."
House Speaker Catherine Hanaway, R-Warson Woods, was one of the votes in favor of the bill. In 1999, she had opposed Proposition B, a concealed weapon initiative that lost narrowly in a statewide vote.
Hanaway said she changed her position last year because circumstances in the country have changed.
"There is just a different climate than there was before Sept. 11," Hanaway said in an interview after the vote.
Hanaway said she had not compared this year's concealed weapons bill to Proposition B. But she felt the latest initiative strikes a "reasonable balance" in limiting those who could carry concealed weapons.
Opponents stressed their worries that having more guns on the street would ultimately lead to more violence. Rep. Kathlyn Fares, R-Webster Groves, was the only Republican from the St. Louis area to vote against the bill. "I think it's a public health issue in the urban areas," she said
http://www.postdispatch.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/News/49DA32C1C468606D86256CE200120756
By BILL BELL JR. Post-Dispatch
updated: 03/06/2003 09:16 PM
JEFFERSON CITY - Carrying concealed weapons would be legal under a bill that won final approval Thursday from the Missouri House.
The bill restricts who could have a concealed weapon and where a permit holder could carry it. The measure passed on a 108-33 vote and now moves to the Senate for more debate.
The bill has many safeguards. For example, those who get the permit from their sheriff could not be a felon or have been convicted of a misdemeanor involving a crime of violence in the past five years.
Applicants would have to go through eight hours of safety training and a background check. Permits would cost $100 and be valid for three years.
Concealed weapons could not be taken into casinos, bars, prisons, or police stations but could be carried into schools, churches and child care facilities with proper approval. Members of the Legislature would be allowed to carry concealed weapons in the House and Senate chambers.
The sponsor, Rep. Larry Crawford, R-California, said the bill has some features that make gun-rights supporters skittish.
He said one of the criticisms of Proposition B was that there was no central repository of information on who would have had concealed weapons permits. Under his bill, the state Department of Revenue would keep the information and would issue a new drivers or nondrivers license with a "concealed carry endorsement."
House Speaker Catherine Hanaway, R-Warson Woods, was one of the votes in favor of the bill. In 1999, she had opposed Proposition B, a concealed weapon initiative that lost narrowly in a statewide vote.
Hanaway said she changed her position last year because circumstances in the country have changed.
"There is just a different climate than there was before Sept. 11," Hanaway said in an interview after the vote.
Hanaway said she had not compared this year's concealed weapons bill to Proposition B. But she felt the latest initiative strikes a "reasonable balance" in limiting those who could carry concealed weapons.
Opponents stressed their worries that having more guns on the street would ultimately lead to more violence. Rep. Kathlyn Fares, R-Webster Groves, was the only Republican from the St. Louis area to vote against the bill. "I think it's a public health issue in the urban areas," she said
http://www.postdispatch.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/News/49DA32C1C468606D86256CE200120756