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Take a good look at the two photos accompanying this editorial. They are of young men wielding handguns in a verbal confrontation that broke out after a crowded balloon-release vigil for victims of last week’s fatal car crash on Forest Park Avenue at Grand Boulevard. No arrests were made — and in fact, it’s not clear that any state or local laws were broken, even though the situation clearly endangered lives. This is the mind-boggling reality of Missouri’s wild-wild-west legal landscape regarding firearms today.
The incident, captured by Post-Dispatch photographer David Carson, stemmed from an argument between several people at the event. The word “disrespect” was bandied about, which in a normal setting might prompt at worst a fistfight. But this being Missouri, several of the arguers were armed. And not just the ones in the photos. Carson recounted to us that, even before he spotted the two men’s exposed guns, it appeared many others in the crowd were carrying firearms in their pants or hip pouches.
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It’s likely the two police officers initially on hand noticed, as well, and were aware of the explosive situation at the emotional event. But what could they do? This is Missouri.
The state’s Republican-controlled Legislature has spent the past two decades methodically unwinding state restrictions on guns, and even attempting to block federal restrictions. In that time, the state’s firearms death rate has risen from about the national average to one of America’s highest.
Many Missourians may not even be aware that almost any adult (and, after bizarre legislative action recently, arguably even minors) can purchase handguns from strangers, no questions asked, and carry them around in public with no permit.
It wasn’t always this way. Up until the early 2000s, Missouri had a universal background check requirement for gun purchases that had been in place for eight decades. The Legislature repealed that law in 2007, effectively creating a loophole that allows felons to buy guns by simply going to private sellers instead of licensed dealers. In the years that followed, the Legislature aggressively revamped the statutes to make it ever easier for Missourians to obtain and carry guns in public.
Today, a St. Louis police officer who sees someone who is clearly armed would be on shaky legal footing if he confronts that person for that reason alone. He can’t even demand to see a permit since they aren’t required in order to carry guns in Missouri.
In other words, officers have to wait until the shooting starts. No wonder Missouri has the fourth-highest firearms death rate of any state in America.
Victims of these laws include the student and teacher killed by a mentally disturbed man who shot up the St. Louis’ Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in October, after his family tried to disarm him but couldn’t because of the Legislature’s determined refusal to enact a red-flag law.
They also include the man whose broad-daylight execution-style murder near the busy downtown intersection at Washington Avenue and North Tucker Boulevard last week was captured on video, showing that the shooter spent more than half a minute casually loading up his handgun first. Since the shooter apparently had no prior criminal record — and since carrying a gun around downtown St. Louis with no permit is perfectly legal for non-felons — it’s possible he broke no Missouri law until the moment he aimed and fired.
Then there were the minors who were caught by police outside the City Foundry in January carrying multiple weapons. There was some controversy because the police, acting on instructions from a juvenile court, released the teens to their parents. Yet Missouri’s Republican lawmakers, rather than condemn that insanity, saw and raised it two weeks later by voting down a measure that would have specified that minors can’t carry firearms in public.
“I just have a different approach for addressing public safety that doesn’t deprive people, who have done nothing to any other person, who will commit no violence, from their freedom,” explained state Rep. Bill Hardwick, R-Waynesville.
Guns brandished at vigil
Another man at the balloon-release vigil brandishes a handgun in response to what those present assert was "disrespect" directed at attendees.
David Carson photos, Post-Dispatch
The “freedom” of youths to carry loaded guns around in public before they’re old enough to drive, he means. Think about that.
It’s important to note that this lunacy isn’t supported by the Missouri public — not even among Republicans. A new poll by St. Louis University and YouGov finds that 79% of Missourians, including 73% of Republicans, favor universal background checks for gun purchases, and 69%, including 59% of Republicans, favor requiring purchasers to be at least 21. Yet the Legislature is considering still more measures to loosen the state’s gun laws further.
Look again at those pictures. Whatever GOP lawmakers say about “law and order,” this is the scenario their gun policies are imposing upon St. Louis. Decrying inaction by city officials against crime is valid, but no one should forget who is ultimately arming the criminals.
