Senate Bills 656 and 745, pro-gun state legislation supported by the NRA, have been delivered to Governor Jay Nixon (D) and await his action. As we have reported recently, SB 656 has been under fire by the anti-gun media, portraying it as a bill that “arms teachers."
Sponsored by state Senator Will Kraus (R-8) and handled in the House by state Representative Kevin Elmer (R-139), SB 656 addresses the following issues:
- Allows the open carrying of firearms in all localities with a carry permit. Some localities currently have ordinances that ban open carrying of firearms, even by those with a valid carry permit.
- Allows a school district to designate a teacher or administrator to qualify as a school protection officer and carry a firearm on school property with the proper training. Current law already allows a school district to allow those with a concealed carry permit to carry a firearm on school property – this would allow school personnel to undergo extensive police training.
- States that no law shall require health care professionals to inquire about a patient’s ownership or possession of firearms and prohibits the documentation of such information into a database.
- Reduces the age from 21 to 19 for those wishing to apply for a concealed carry permit.
- Allows someone to qualify for a concealed carry permit using a revolver or semi-automatic pistol, rather than having to qualify with each firearm.
- Requires one instructor for every forty people for the classroom portion of a firearms safety training course. Current law allows only forty people per classroom regardless of the number of instructors present.
- Specifies that no public housing authority shall prohibit a lessee or a member of the lessee’s immediate household or guest from personally possessing firearms within an individual residence, common areas, or from carrying or transporting firearms to and from such residence in a manner allowed by law.
SB 745, sponsored by state Senator Brian Munzlinger (R-18) and handled in the House by state Representative Jay Houghton (R-43), includes improved right to carry language and technical corrections related to the 2013 transition of the concealed carry permit issuance process to the sheriffs. As previously reported, several pro-gun amendments were adopted to SB 745. These amendments include language that would modify the current concealed carry training requirement, which requires an individual to shoot both a revolver and a semi-automatic pistol, and would instead allow someone to shoot only one firearm rather than both firearms. Other language in the bill states that there shall be no more than forty students per qualified firearms safety instructor during the classroom portion of a firearms safety training course. Current Missouri law only allows forty students per classroom, regardless of whether or not there is more than one instructor present.
Please contact Governor Nixon TODAY and respectfully urge him to stand with law-abiding gun owners in Missouri and sign SB 656 and SB 745 into law. Contact information for Governor Nixon is provided below.
Governor Jay Nixon:
(573) 751-3222
E-mail
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