JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri became the latest state to allow residents to carry a concealed weapon without a permit when lawmakers supported the change Wednesday.
Starting Jan. 1, gun owners will be able to carry a concealed weapon without a permit. The remaining provisions in the bill, including the expansion of "stand your ground," will take effect in 30 days.
Tense debate during the legislature's annual veto override session encompassed themes of race and class as lawmakers clashed over whether to override Gov. Jay Nixon's veto of Senate Bill 656. In the days leading up to the session the debate drew national attention, with organizations on both sides of the issues working to influence lawmakers. Another controversial part of the bill is its "stand your ground" provision, which will allow residents to use deadly force on public property if they perceive a threat.
I still think having a license is a good idea both to speed up verification by police that you aren't in a prohibited category or when visiting states that are still in the dark ages.
I am a Missouri resident, and I hold a Missouri concealed weapon permit.
ReplyDeleteBesides the advantage you mentioned, there are real legal protections that the concealed weapon permit gives an individual. First, if you have a permit one does not violate the Federal Gun Free School Zone law if one carries within 1000' of a school.
Another advantage concerns the 17 places where Missouri law prohibits concealed carry. The potential penalty if caught in one of these places is much less if one has a permit.
One can open carry a firearm, even in places where cities have ordinances prohibiting it, if one has a permit.
How do I know all of these things? Because I took the Missouri CCW class as part of the application process. Knowing the laws in Missouri is still necessary, even if one does not have a permit. The education received in the class is the final, and perhaps most important, advantage of obtaining the permit.
The new law is welcome, but it is nuanced. All Missourians considering carrying a gun should consider the legal ramifications carefully
A license seems like a good idea.
ReplyDeleteIt all depends on whether you can trust your government and its police; if your government isn't trustworthy then some day without warning you may experience policemen at your door, requesting that you hand over your licensed weapon. Your name is on their list.
For some reason they don't want licensed guns available when the train is boarding at the cattle-car platform and you are required to get on it.
Not that our wonderful honest transparent government would ever do anything like that, of course!
Eskyman: while the general concept you're expounding on is solid, your specifics aren't. Missouri doesn't license, register or otherwise track specific guns, this set of laws pertains to licensing gun owners, or not.
ReplyDeleteAnd keeping that a secret from any high, as in sophisticated and wealthy level of government, like state or Federal, is very hard to do. Like, your posting your comment to this item of Clayton's gives you away....
In practice, unlike Germany where the Nazis could rely on their citizens to obet gun registration laws, large numbers of Americans simply will not; some patriots, some criminals. Nothing short of door-to-door searches will do the job. Since only about 5% of people have carry permits out a gun owning population of 40% of the population, licenses will never be very effective at finding guns. Door-to-door searches will stop when run out of federal officers to do them.
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