Do Loose Gun Laws Make us Safer? A Case Study in Missouri.
In 2007, the state of Missouri relaxed its gun laws and made it easier to buy a gun legally. Last year the state gave 19-year-olds the right to carry concealed weapons. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what happened next.
In Missouri, fewer gun restrictions and more gun killings https://t.co/fprGaxzstK pic.twitter.com/NiootuOYwu
— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 21, 2015
“In the past decade, Missouri has been a natural experiment in what happens when a state relaxes its gun control laws. For decades, it had one of the nation’s strongest measures to keep guns from dangerous people: a requirement that all handgun buyers get a gun permit by undergoing a background check in person at a sheriff’s office.”
“Missouri was the only state in recent history to repeal a law requiring background checks and permits for all handgun sales,”
I grew up in Kansas City Missouri, and I can relate to this story. Weapons have always been a problem in Kansas City. Firearms are ingrained in the culture. I still remember my father taking my brother and I out into the country and teaching us about firearms. There’s a saying in Kansas City; “I’d rather be judged by twelve than carried by six.” So you get the picture. I’m glad my dad taught me about guns when I was young because in a place with so many weapons kids need to know about gun safety.
In a home not far from the house I grew up in, a young boy shot and killed his younger brother by accident, after finding an unsecured weapon in the house.
Another kid who went to the same school as me was shot a killed walking home one evening. I didn’t know him that well because he was about two years older than me. Someone murdered him around the time I was in the sixth grade. I can still remember the teachers talking to us about it, try to soothe our young hearts and minds. I know from experience that Kansas City is full of guns, and so is the other big city in Missouri, Saint Louis.
How have Missouri’s loosened gun laws affected the crime rate in St. Louis? Surely crime has declined____right? Wrong___ St Louis is now the murder capital of the United States, taking that dubious crown from Detroit. Thank You very much, Missouri Legislature.
I don’t think that it should be illegal to own a weapon, but we have to use common sense as my mother still tells me. Why would you make it illegal for a 19-year-old to buy liquor but allow them to buy and carry a concealed firearm?
What about all the people who say there are already too many guns out there, so it’s useless to try to control them? I still remember when cars didn’t have seatbelts. It took a while, but now all cars have seatbelts and many lives have been saved because a law was passed requiring seatbelts in cars. With all the killing going on in the United States it is immoral for us just to sit on our hands and do nothing. We have to start somewhere.
Have a wonderful week. God be with you until we meet again.
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