April 29, 2003 Legislative Report

If you haven´t heard it yet... Minnesota just joined the growing number of states that has debated and PASSED License-to-Carry Reform. The Minnesota law was passed by their senate and signed into law by their governor making it the thirty-fourth state to enact this style legislation. Will Missouri be the thirty-fifth?

So far this year alone, three states have debated and passed LTC reform: Colorado, New Mexico and now Minnesota.

The stage is set for the Missouri Senate to take up the House approved HS HCS HB349 REAL SOON... maybe even this week!

It is critical that you call these senators TODAY and say THANK YOU for their support of the much overdue reform.

The support in the Senate should result in passage of the measure. We may even get a "veto-proof" majority vote margin. Their is a very good chance that this year LTC reform will make it to the desk of the Missouri Governor for his action or inaction.

Governor Holden could do three things: 1) Veto it; 2) Sign it; or 3) Allow it to become law without any action on his part.

We hope he will see the light and sign it. At the least, we are hopeful he will allow it to become law without any action.

MISSOURI LTC REFORM BACKGROUND

This year is the twelveth year that Missouri has debated LTC reform. In the twelve years we have debated, now NINETEEN states have debated and passed similar BUT LESS STRICT bills than is currently being proposed for our state.

A total of THIRTY-FOUR states now have "shall-issue" style License-to-Carry laws in effect on the books.

There are a total of NINE states that have "may-issue" style License-to-Carry laws in effect [may issue makes it acceptable for a sheriff to discriminate against an applicant based on race, religion or ???].

One state has nearly NO prohibitions on the carrying of concealed firearms [Vermont].

So there are a total of FORTY-FOUR states that now have some form of License-to-Carry law with over 2.5 million honest Americans in these states with permits to legally carry concealed firearms outside their homes.

Missouri is ONLY ONE OF SIX states that has a TOTAL prohibition on the legal carrying of concealed firearms outside the home by honest citizens. ONLY ONE OF SIX! We NEED to CHANGE that this year!

In EACH and EVERY state that has debated LTC reform since we started, the same predictions of doom and gloom... of wide spread death and destruction... has been professed by opponents to this reform.

In EACH and EVERY state the predictions of opponents have been PROVEN TO BE FALSE! LTC reform has worked and is working and is saving innocent lives.

However, due to our state's inaction in passing LTC reform, it is estimated that approximately 360 honest Missourians needlessly lost their lives because we did NOT have LTC. That is nearly 30 of our fellow citizens per year!

It is time for Missourians to be trusted with a system that allows them to apply for permission to carry a firearm concealed while outside the home. It is time we pass HS HCS HB349 and put it on the governor´s desk.

WITH YOUR HELP... WE CAN DO IT.

Greg Jeffery
Legislative Chairman
Gateway Civil Liberties Alliance: www.gclastl.org
Legislative Coordinator
Missourians for Personal Safety: www.moccw.org
Designated Part-time Spokesman
Western Missouri Shooters Alliance: www.wmsa.net

IF you have not signed up for our Grass Roots Action Network email list, please do so today. Don´t forget that you can see our alerts, our newsletters and other pertinent information on the struggle to enact License-to-Carry legislation for Missouri by visiting our website at: www.gclastl.org or the website of other state grassroots groups such as MPS at: www.moccw.org and WMSA at: www.wmsa.net and MSSA at: www.safewithguns.org.