By Dean Weingarten
Arizona – -(Ammoland.com)- On May 16th the Missouri legislature passed a bill containing a number of gun law reforms.
The reforms were all passed as part of a bill that does not contain any provision for nullification of federal gun laws. LMTD at opencarry.org has this to say about the possibility of Democrat Governor Nixon signing the bill:
Since this is the same as last year less nullification and nullification was his objection he is in a rock and hard place, I am wondering if he won’t just ignore and let it expire and move along. Seems a veto might be bad timing for him but you never know.
Here are the primary reforms that would be enacted with SB656:
- Guarantees the right to posses arms in public housing
- Forbids physical restraint or disarmament unless there is an arrest or an articulable and reasonable suspicion of criminal activity
- Mandates that POST determine the training standards for school protection officers
- Allows school districts to designate school protection officers
- Forbids health care professionals from entering data about firearms ownership into databases
- Allows for a demonstration of proficiency with either a revolver or semi-automatic handgun instead of both for the carry permit
- Uniform open carry law throughout the state with a concealed carry permit
- Changes the age of eligibility for the carry permit from 21 to 19
One of the reforms of the law is to prevent police officers from “chilling” the right to bear arms. Plumberdan at opencarry.org relates this anecdote:
encounter with local leo in st. Louis muni..officer says he always disarms ccw people so he can run serial number…what’s with that..I informed him with new bill in legislation that would be an unlawfull act to disarm with out making arrest merely for snooping purpose of valid ccw carriers, and could lead to lawsuit against officer with out his being able to hide behind immunity….
This is a classic case of police using their authority to chill the exercise of a constitutional right. Consider if the police would routinely take your cell phone to “check the serial number to see if it was stolen”. Many more people would not be talking on cell phones in public or would keep them hidden while walking about.
SB656 passed the House 118 to 28 and the Senate 21 to 8. Both houses passed the bill with the necessary 2/3 required to override a veto.
Governor Nixon has until the middle of July to sign the bill, veto the bill or allow the bill to become law by doing nothing. He vetoed a similar bill last year that had nullification as part of it.
Here is Governor Nixon’s contact information:
Governor Jay Nixon:
(573) 751-3222
E-mail
c2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included. Link to Gun Watch
About Dean Weingarten;
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.