ST. LOUIS – St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones and the Board of Aldermen announced the next steps Friday for new action on gun safety legislation.
The latest efforts follow the approval of Board Bill 29 to regulate open carry in St. Louis City.
Last month, Jones said she wanted to introduce legislation designed to:
- Prohibit military-grade weapons on city streets
- Prevent the transfer or sale of guns to minors
- Take action on military-grade guns and similar untraceable firearms
- Prepare St. Louis in the case of bans on celebratory gunfire
- Prohibit anyone convicted of insurrection or hate crimes from having guns in St. Louis
Jones has received some pushback from the Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey and Gov. Mike Parson, but plans to continue with legislation and has backing from the Board of Aldermen.
“We will be filing a number of bills that we know we are currently preempted under state law from doing, but we are filing them with trigger clauses in them in anticipation that one day we will be allowed to pass regulations at the local level to regulate firearms,” said St. Louis Board of Aldermen President Megan Green.
The push for these bills comes following a listening session with gun violence survivors and advocates, in which St. Louis City officials heard personal accounts of the devastating toll that gun violence has on communities.
