“Every time we talk about a provision related to guns, we know we’re going to have trouble on our side of the aisle,” state Rep. Lane Roberts (R) said Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.
State Rep. Donna Baringer (D), who represents St. Louis and sponsored the amendment to HB 301, said he brought the proposal to the chamber after police in his district requested stricter regulations to stop “14-year-olds walking down the middle . on the streets of the city of St. Louis carrying an AR-15.”
“Now they’re motivated, and they’re walking with them,” Baringer said. “Until they actually wave them, and wave them on purpose, the hands of our police are handcuffed.”
While critics and Democrats criticized Republican lawmakers for defeating the proposal, some GOP lawmakers, such as Rep. Tony Lovasco of the state, defended the decision.
“The government should ban activities that directly cause measurable harm to others, not activities that we suspect may escalate,” said Lovasco, who represents St. Louis suburb of O’Fallon, told The Washington Post in a statement. “Few would support banning unaccompanied minors from public places, although one could argue that such an ill-advised policy would be effective. While it is reasonable to be wary of minors carrying guns, any solution to youth crime must be done properly and respectful of individual rights.
Roberts and Baringer did not immediately respond to requests for comment early Thursday.
The proposal’s defeat comes at a time when gun control activists worry about aftershocks from the Supreme Court’s decision last year that the Second Amendment generally protects the rights of Americans who follow by law to carry a gun outside the home for self-defense. After the decision of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen has led to easier access to concealed-carry permits across the country, states like California have seen spikes in permit applications and uncertainty from local officials about how to proceed.
Since 2017, Missouri residents have not been required to have a permit for concealed carry, after Missouri House lawmakers voted to override a veto by Gov. Jay Nixon (D) on a broad gun rights bill. The law does not require gun owners to take safety training or have a criminal-background check to carry concealed weapons in most public places. The move was celebrated by Republicans, but law enforcement officials warned that the law would “make officers more fearful,” the St. Louis Public Radio reported at the time.
The proposal’s defeat this week comes nearly a month after Missouri Republicans in the state House made headlines for a vote to tighten the dress code for female lawmakers, while leaving the dress code for men. Missouri House Republicans are looking to require women to wear blazers when in the bedroom. The state House eventually approved a modified version of the proposal, which allowed cardigans as well as jackets but still required women’s arms to be covered.
Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers were initially hopeful they would agree on restrictions surrounding children and open carry after a bipartisan chamber group proposed the limits last month. Roberts, who represents parts of Jasper and Newton counties, told the state House Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee last week that while he doesn’t want to curtail the Second Amendment, allowing children to openly to carry firearms in public places “is not what the Second Amendment is about.”
“It’s about people who don’t have the life experience to make a decision about the consequences of having that gun in their possession,” Roberts said, according to St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “Why is an 8-year-old carrying a sidearm on the street?”
But Roberts’ sentiment was not supported by his GOP colleagues on the House Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee, which struck down the provision.
“I have a different approach for addressing public safety that doesn’t deprive people, that doesn’t do anything to any person, that doesn’t do violence, from their liberty,” Rep. Republican state Rep. Bill Hardwick, who represents Pulaski County and Fort Leonard Wood, told the Post-Dispatch.
Critics noted how quickly the proposal’s momentum shifted.
“I’m old enough to remember when Missouri Republicans pretended to care about gun violence in St. Louis. Like, 2 days ago,” post-Dispatch columnist Tony Messenger Tweet on Friday. “It was just a moment.”
On Wednesday, Baringer offered an amendment to try to add the provision back to the broader crime bill voted on by the chamber, but it was largely rejected.
The vote was met with blowback from Democrats and gun control advocates. Among them is Shannon Watts, founder of the gun violence prevention nonprofit Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. “Republicans can’t claim to be tough on crime if they’re soft on guns,” he said wrote on Twitter.
State Rep. Peter Merideth (D) argued that the state cares more about drag shows than kids openly carrying guns. A bill proposed today in Missouri says it wants to change “the definition of a sex-oriented business to include any nightclub or bar that provides drag shows.” Another proposed bill would classify drag shows on public property or viewed by minors as Class A misdemeanors.
“Kids carrying guns on the street or in a park is a matter of individual freedom and personal responsibility. Kids seeing a drag queen reading a children’s book or singing is a danger. which the government should ban,” WRITES Merideth, representing St. “Do I have the right MO GOP?”
Jessica Piper, a political podcast host and former Democratic candidate for the Missouri House, summarized his reaction to children being allowed to openly carry guns in public places without adult supervision: “One day in Missouri.”
Scott Wilson and Todd C. Frankel contributed to this report.