New Missouri Gun Law

tEarly in the year, we saw changes to the CCW laws and how the permits are issued. The process of obtaining a permit was made a little easier because the permit is now issued from the Sheriff's Office and also became valid for five years before needing to be renewed.

Last month, members of legislature overrode a piece of legislation that was vetoed by the governor that will now change some of the CCW laws once again.

Senate Bill 656 says, "The open carrying of a firearm may not be prohibited by a political subdivision for any person with a valid concealed carry endorsement or permit in his or her possession."

I am a firm believer in the second amendment and believe there should be much less oversight from the government than there is now. I think there is more freedom in this bill and it will cause much less confusion for citizens.

Missouri is an "open carry" state but currently cities may pass city ordinances prohibiting open carrying of firearms. At times it can be hard to sort out which cities have what laws when it comes to open carry.

I do think it would have been good, however, to increase training requirements to make sure those who do wish to carry a firearm, are capable of doing so.

But in this bill they did just the opposite. Right now you must fire a revolver and a semi auto pistol to demonstrate you can safely load, unload, and fire both types of handguns.

The new law only requires one or the other to be fired. This means someone may use a revolver in the training and qualification and then carry a semi auto pistol even though they have never fired that type of handgun!

When the CCW law was first passed years back, you had to be 23 years old to get a CCW. Recently that had been changed to 21 and now the new law only requires you to be 19. You must be 21 to purchase a handgun, but you can carry one with a permit at 19. I can see some legal issues coming out of that part of the bill.

Although I have some concerns with parts of the bill, there are other parts I think are an improvement. I am a law enforcement officer, but I have always believed there must be checks in place to see that law enforcement does not over step its bounds.

This new law adds a protection to citizens by saying that, "No person carrying a concealed or unconcealed handgun may be disarmed or physically restrained by a law enforcement officer unless under arrest or if there is no reasonable and articulable suspicion of criminal activity."

Although this should be common sense, it spells it out. If you are not breaking the law, the cops cannot bother you just because you have a gun!

Another part of the bill, and one of the most important parts in my opinion, is found under Healthcare Professionals and Firearms -- 571.012.

This law will specify that, "No licensed health care professional or person under the supervision of the professional, may not be required by law to ask a patient whether he or she owns or has access to a firearm, document firearm ownership or access in a patient's medical records, or notify any governmental entity of the identity of a patient based solely on the patient's status as a firearm owner or the patient's access to a firearm."