A proposed Missouri gun law will make it harder to buy a rifle or handgun than to get an abortion, Second Amendment supporters staunchly maintain. The legislation was filed on December 1 and requires a host of gun-buying restrictions, which appear to be a mirror image of Missouri’s extensive abortion laws.
At a time when national security, or lack thereof, is making headlines across the United States, concerns about ISIS in the United States prompted one New York sheriff to urge residents to tote guns with them everywhere legally allowed. On the other hand, Missouri has embarked on perhaps the most stringent piece of gun control legislation in recent history.
Will your 72-Hour kit save your life?
A sampling of the Missouri gun law dictates as filed with the state legislature:
• Prospective gun buyers must review all “alternatives” to buying a firearm, “including peaceful and nonviolent conflict resolution and medical risks associated with firearms, including photographs of fatal firearm injuries with the dealer, both orally and in writing.”
• Missouri gun buyers must wait at least 72 hours after meeting with a licensed doctor to discuss the “risks of gun ownership” and garner written notice from the same doctor, before attempting to exercise their Second Amendment rights to purchase a gun, rifle or shotgun of any type.
• If the potential firearms buyer jumps through the first two hurdles of gun ownership successfully, he or she must then purchase the weapon from a licensed dealer located at least 120 miles away from their home. The miles from a verifiable legal residence is the distance a woman must travel to have an abortion.
• Before handing over the payment to the long-distance licenses gun dealer, the customer must first watch a half-hour video showcasing fatal firearm injuries.
• The customer must meet with at least two local faith leaders who have officiated a funeral of a minor who died due to gun violence and with two families who have been victims of gun violence. (Seriously, this mandate is really a part of the proposed Missouri gun law. When I read this aspect of the bill I thought the entire news story was a hoax, but it is not.)
• The final, too ridiculous to even begin to fathom requirement of the Missouri gun law states that during the weekend hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., the individual must visit an emergency room trauma center at the “nearest qualified urban hospital” and get written proof of the visit from a doctor on duty at the time.
Yep, before rural Missouri residents can obtain a gun, they have to drive into an urban area, at night, and be subjected to the blood and gore from the most recent gang fight. Who cares if the customer simply wants a .22 rifle for a youngster looking forward to joining in on the family’s annual hunting trip for the first time.
Democrat Stacey Newman authored the Missouri gun law to make a point about gun violence, she said. Newman was elected to the state legislature in 2009. She said that she wanted to draw attention to the ongoing problem of gun violence in the state and the “limits placed on women’s reproductive rights.”
The gun control supporter also told the media that she fully understands that getting the bill passed in a Republican-controlled state senate will be an uphill battle.
“If we truly insist that Missouri cares about all life, then we must take immediate steps to address our major cities’ rising rates of gun violence,” Newman added. “Popular proposals among voters, including universal background checks and restricting weapons for abusers and convicted felons, are consistently ignored each session. Since restrictive policies regarding a constitutionally protected medical procedure are the GOP’s legislative priority each year, it makes sense that their same restrictions apply to those who may commit gun violence. Our city mayors and law enforcement drastically need help in saving lives.”
Missouri ranks in the top five of states for gun deaths. It ranks at the top of the list of toddler deaths caused by the children shooting themselves or others.
Newman did make one valid gun violence point during her bid to garner support for the Second Amendment-infringing bill. The Democrat referenced the ever-increasing rate of gun violence in major cities. The St. Louis riots aside, most of the gun violence occurs in urban metropolitan areas in low-income areas. In rural areas where the vast majority of residents own at least one firearm, the rate of gun violence (just like rural regions around the nation) ranges from nonexistent to low.
The number of registered legal gun owners in the major cities is decidedly lower than in suburban and rural areas. So, unless the gun violence in major cities is frequently being conducted by a small handful of legal gun owners who never get caught, the bloody sidewalks and drive-by shooting are due to the trigger squeezes of illegally owned guns by individuals who couldn’t pass a background check.
My sarcasm was surely not lost on Survival Based readers who have undoubtedly shaken their heads in disgust every time a gun-control knee jerk occurs. Both the Second Amendment and the First Amendment appear to be under attack in America more and more each day.
Neither the Missouri gun law, if passed, nor any other similar piece of legislation, will alter the violent course we appear to be on. Such laws only create more hurdles for law-abiding citizens to jump through and infringe upon the Second Amendment rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
Criminals will continue to get their hands on guns as they always have. Laws and rules mean nothing to bad guys or bad girls. The San Bernardino shooters did not shrink away in fear as they happened upon the “Gun-Free Zone” sign posted at the entrance of the Inland Regional Center.
Politicians and the talking heads in mainstream media almost always fail to address the root cause of gun violence and appear eager to trample on the Constitution if it furthers partisan talking points. The number of people killed this year in urban gang violence (including innocent bystanders in the neighborhood) and violent crime far surpasses the number of gun deaths due to mass shooters and gun accidents.
You simply cannot legislate morality. Gun laws are more stringent in the United States now than they were 25 years ago, but violent crime persists and mass shootings have gone from a beyond rare occurrence to an almost monthly event. Gun control advocates often now cite the need for enhanced mental health requirement statutes to be a part of firearm purchase screenings. More prescription medications and ease of access to mental health services exist now than any other time in the nation’s history. Why have the ranks of the mentally ill suddenly risen up, grabbed a gun, and gone on shooting rampages at schools, malls and restaurants?
Until we collectively address the societal and cultural issues that prompt gun violence in the United States, violent crime and mass shootings will continue to happen at an alarming rate. In addition, more law-abiding citizens will buy guns and get concealed carry permits to protect themselves from becoming yet another victim.
What do you think of the Missouri gun ban and the gun control debate that has raged since the San Bernardino terror attacks by Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik?