Minutes of the November 2004 General Membership Meeting

Rory Marshall

November 24, 2004

. The November General Membership meeting was called to order at 7:05 PM., with Mr. Kevin Jamison,

Esquire, WMSA President, presiding and conducting the meeting.

Kevin began by noting that he has heard from various people that some in our state want to have the license

to carry (LTC) law revised during the next session of the Missouri legislature. Our people are concerned

that other groups want to take away car carry, stop out of state permits and reduce the number of places where

a permit holder can legally carry a concealed gun. Kevin told the group that a meeting will be held on December

4thto decide what we should strive to have accomplished legislatively in 2005. Noting that the best defense is' a

good offense, Kevin believes that we need to have some bill in play in the legislature concerning 2ndAmendment

rights such as a bill to extend protection from frivolous lawsuits. The purpose would be to protect from later

civil litigation any law abiding gun owner who was forced to use lethal force against a criminal perpetrator.

One member in attendance rose to state his opinion that the legislature should actively seek out a fix to the

Hancock funding issue raised by the Missouri Supreme Court earlier in 2004. n was his opinion that we have

waited long enough and that the impediments to issuing concealed carry permits in all counties in the state

,."..should come to an end .Another member thought it might be wise to get legislation enacted which would

shield a person from possible prosecution if he or she loaned a gun to his or her spouse. Technically, the

spouse in possession of the gun could potentially face prosecution because he or she was deemed to not be in

legal possession of it. In addition, it was noted that if a family member were to receive a gun by inheritance, and

there was no permit to acquire (PTA) obtained by that heir, the gun also might be deemed to not be legally in

the heir's possession, subjecting that heir to possible prosecution. n was felt that legal "fixes" of these types,

while being useful to lawful gun owners, would not in any way jeopardize the current LTC law.

n was noted that some prominent state gun rights activists like John Ross and Greg Jeffery strongly urge

us all to wait for a couple of years before attempting to make changes to the law. They feel that this would help

to show those against LTC that their predictions of rampant shootings and lawlessness by permit holders were

wrong. .That would, in turn, help strengthen the arguments of our side in the future. The thinking is that the

legislators would recognize that they could trust the changes that are suggested in the future because our

side had told the truth in the past about the fact that there would be no "blood running in the streets". In

response, Kevin said that there are dangers whichever way we choose to go. He noted that if legislators

friendly to our cause were to initiate a bill and then, bad amendments were attached to it, the legislator who had

introduced it could kill the bill before it ever came up for a vote. Kevin's suggestion was that, at a minimum, tIre

legislature introduce a bill to modify the existing LTC law enough to "fix" the Hancock issue. More than one

person in attendance informed the group that our side promised, prior to the passage of LTC in 2003 that we

would not strive to make anything more than technical corrections to the law for two years if it were to pass. A

discussion was held as to whether or not it would be best to stay true to that promise.

That notwithstanding, others stated that our side certainly made no promises not to introduce any bills

about other topics of concern to 2ndAmendment supporters, such as mentioned earlier in the meeting.

On the topic of additional legislation, it seemed to be the general consensus of the members in attendance at the meeting that there ought to be thrusts made in three areas: 

• Tort reform (blocking relatives of perps killed or .~ '" injured from-suing a lawful shooter]" .. 

• . "Tweak" to the LTC law resulting in Hancock "fix"

• . Bill to make issuance of a permit to acquire (PTA) unnecessary because of NICS instant checks

Someone asked for a clarification as to the status of the $250,000 being held in escrow in Judge Ohmer's

Saint Louis court. Kevin said that the awarding of any or all of the funds is still up in the air. He said that our

supporters believe that we will be awarded a substantial sum of money. Since funds are still owed to the attorneys

that represented our side, Kevin urged all members to buy the lottery tickets that were recently mailed to

members. He said that the money collected to pay the attorneys helps provide the funds to continue the fight

to collect the large sum of money held in escrow. On a different topic, Kevin noted that there would be

a rally held in Jefferson City in late February or early March around the time of the one-year anniversary of

the Missouri Supreme Court's ruling that the LTC law was constitutional. Finally, it was noted that there are some nice items. which carry the WMSA logo which would make great holiday gifts and can be purchased from a link at the WMSA website. Profits go to help support the efforts of WMSA.

No further business appearing, the meeting was adjourned

at 8:15 P.M.