A common sense gun proposal from an unlikely place—
Missouri:
The legislation recently filed by Democratic state Rep. Stacey Newman of St. Louis would restrict gun possession in multiple instances of domestic violence or suspected domestic assault.
Anyone under a restraining order that cites threats of violence also would be banned from owning a gun.
The bill also would allow police to remove a gun from the scene if domestic assault is suspected.
Missouri has
a particularly big problem:
Missouri is home to a staggering amount of gun violence.
• From 2002 to 2011, 7,635 people were killed with guns in Missouri. That is more than the number of all U.S. combat deaths in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.1
• Somebody is killed with a gun in Missouri every 10 hours: In 2011 alone, there were 854 gun deaths in the state.2
Domestic violence fatalities are prevalent in Missouri, and they are frequently a result of gun crime.
• According to the FBI, there were 366 domestic violence homicides in Missouri from
2003 to 2012, which include both male and female victims.
• Of those homicides, more than one-half of the victims—55.7 percent—were killed
with guns.3
It's Missouri, where it takes less time to get a
concealed-carry permit than it does to get a driver's license, so not holding our breath that this law will actually pass. Nonetheless, it is encouraging to see a common sense proposal coming from the Missouri Senate.