Opponents file suit to stop concealed guns
Tim
Bryant and JO
MANNIES
Post-Dispatch
10/08/2003
Opponents of Missouri's new law allowing qualified citizens to
carry concealed guns filed suit today in St. Louis to block
its enforcement.
The plaintiffs, who include several St. Louis-area state
legislators and the
mayor pro tem of Kansas City, contend in the suit that the new
law is
unconstitutional.
Since 1875, the Missouri Constitution has included a provision
that says the
right to bear arms does not justify the right to carry
concealed weapons. The
1945 state constitution makes the issue even more clear, the
suit contends.
The concealed carry legislation, which became law when the
Legislature overrode
Gov. Bob Holden's veto, is scheduled to take effect on
Saturday.
The plaintiffs filed the suit in St. Louis Circuit Court. But
their effort to
block the law's enforcement might be heard in Jefferson City.
Attorney General
Jay Nixon's office said Cole County Circuit Court is the
appropriate venue for
the case and is asking that the case be moved to Jefferson
City .
A St. Louis judge is expected to consider that request this
afternoon.
Gov. Bob Holden says he would back an initiative petition
drive to
overturn the state's new law allowing qualified Missourians to
carry concealed
weapons.
Although such an effort isn't now under way, Holden
spokeswoman Mary Still said
Tuesday that the instigators could count on the governor's
public support. "We
would be active. He would play whatever role the sponsors
would need him to
play," Still said.
The critics, who include a number of area elected officials,
say it violates
several provisions of the state constitution. Still said the
governor "sees
numerous flaws in the law, which invite a lawsuit."
Holden first stated his support for the idea Monday, when he
talked to
reporters after a news conference in St. Louis, where he
announced a ban on
concealed weapons in all state buildings.
The new law is slated to go into effect Saturday, after the
state Legislature
voted last month to override the governor's veto of the
measure.
State Auditor Claire McCaskill, a fellow Democrat expected to
challenge Holden
next year, offered similar sentiments late Tuesday. "I am
opposed to concealed
carry, and I would support every effort to reverse this law
and will work to
tighten the restrictions to make them meaningful. I am
disappointed in the
leadership that got us here," she said.
State Republican Party spokesman John Hancock blasted the suit
as "yet another
example of Bob Holden and the Democrats using the liberal
judges they have
appointed to undo the will of the people."
Hancock added that the state GOP had yet to take a position on
the initiative
petition idea.
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