How
State to Pass License-to-Carry
By Greg Jeffery
On
A Little History
Thursday,
September 11th wasn't only the conclusion of the 2003 legislative session, it
was the culmination of a 12 year odyssey to bring LTC to
The journey
began in 1992, where, against all odds, we successfully passed a LTC provision
in the House by an overwhelming margin. Even though we failed to pass the bill
that year...we knew it could be done. The by-product of our pushing for LTC
reform was that our voices were now being heard in
We started the journey for two
reasons: 1) To secure for honest Missourians the ability to legally defend themselves
outside the home; 2) To get our voices heard and make the anti's spend time and
money fighting OUR bills (in other words...go on the offensive). The strategy
worked.
Each year
we improved. Our state grass-roots action grew in numbers and effectiveness.
By 1995, we were in a no-prisoners-taken struggle with one of the most politically
powerful governors in our state's history - Mel Carnahan. In 1995, we mounted
our most successful campaign to date. We beat the Governor in the Senate and
got a bill sent to the House. In the House we beat the Governor again by getting
the bill out of committee to the full House for debate. In a moment no one
could recall ever seeing before, Governor Mel Carnahan went to the floor of
the House lobbying the representatives to vote against LTC. We beat him again
on a critical vote by ONE SINGLE VOTE...but we beat him. When the bill moved
back to the Senate, we geared up for the last series of critical votes. When
we won the first two, it became apparent to all that we had the votes to successfully
pass the bill. At that moment, a Senator who was opposed to LTC claimed that
his life had been threatened by a supporter of LTC. That delayed the vote
and in the end killed the bill. But we smelled victory and were inspired to
come back again.
In 1996, the nearness of
our victory gained national attention and we had ‘help’ for the next session.
Unfortunately, the help didn't want to listen to the grass-roots and we went
no where. The stumble during the 1996 session led to a stale-mate condition
for the 1997 session. But we were still there pushing to pass our bill.
In 1998, we were asked for
our opinion about putting the measure to a public vote. The grass-roots groups
unanimously said ”NO.” But, we were
informed that the national group was going to do a public vote anyway.
| That
public vote disaster became known as Prop B. (April 6th, 1999). The close
loss of Prop B nearly destroyed the grass roots LTC movement. However,
a very small handful of us decided that no matter what the odds, we would
be back, AS WE HAD PROMISED WE WOULD. Though 2000 was a lean year, we
held on. No one thought LTC would ever pass in In 2001 session, some ground was regained when the new governor, Bob Holden, made overtures that he "may" be willing to compromise. A bill was crafted, but in the end was rejected by the grass-roots groups. However, the bill that was written in 2001 became the basis for the next two years that resulted in LTC 2003 with the passage of HB 349. The Turning Point Year |
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Most
people may not realize it, but 2002 was the year that created 2003.
There was a chain of events that occurred that shifted the paradigms
of many of the key players in our state capitol. A lot of credit goes
to many of our elected officials, but for the 2002 session, Representative
Frank Barnitz (D) definitely comes out a hero. He was the House Bill
sponsor for 2002 and worked feverishly to iron out provisions in the
law to address the concerns of opponents and supporters. Rep. Barnitz did yeoman work with state law-enforcement
agencies addressing some of their concerns with LTC. Finally a bill
had been crafted that persuaded police organizations not to oppose LTC.
For the first time, during the 2002 session, The language of |
2003 – The Freight
Train is Getting Ready to Leave the Station
Successful meetings between
grass-roots members and the leadership of both parties at the end of 2002,
gave little doubt that LTC would be passed through the House and stood a very
good chance of being passed through the Senate during the 2003 session. The
problem then became the effort to keep the bill language "clean"
AND making sure enough votes could be mustered to hold off a potential veto
by Governor Holden.
The bills House sponsor for the 2003 session was Representative Larry Crawford (R). He brought to the effort his great bi-partisanship skills, bringing into the debate input and improvements from both parties and gave fair consideration to all serious comments for those opposed to LTC reform. Rep. Crawford skillfully moved the bill through the House and kept the bill clean. There are many people responsible for the successful passage of HB 349 through the House including the House leadership, both Republican and Democrat. Because of their support, the bill overwhelmingly won approval in the House.
When we moved to the Senate, we faced a smaller opposition that was much better organized than in years past. Their filibuster would be hard to break. In the end, everyone knew there were sufficient votes to pass the bill but the question was “By how wide of a margin?”
Senator Harold Caskey (D) was given the responsibility to move Rep. Crawford’s bill successfully through the Senate. Sen. Caskey, a long-time supporter of the movement to pass LTC reform, brought the bill up for debate and the Senate successfully defeated a few harmful amendments, when the opponents began their filibuster. After several hours, Sen. Caskey (and many other Senators) grew tired of the continued baseless "gloom and doom" of the opponents. Senator Caskey came to the rescue by invoking a little known and very seldom used rule to end the filibuster. This caught the anti's and the Governor's staff off guard. The Governor‘s staff poured out of their offices and into the Senate Gallery to come watch the event and were shocked when the "Perfecting the Question" motion was made that ended the filibuster and forced the vote. The measure passed the Senate by a vote of 23 yes to 10 no.
The return and final passage of HB 349 by the House at this point was a mere formality with the only question being if the margin would be ‘veto proof‘. With the successful final passage of HB 349 by the House, the bill was delivered to Governor Holden’s desk where everyone waited to see if the Governor would veto the bill. The battle lines for the possible veto override were being drawn.
People from all over the state...both for and against HB 349...brought tremendous pressure to bear on Governor Holden. In the end, on July 3rd, just two days before the clock ran out, he vetoed HB 349. Now the battle was one to secure and win votes to override the veto in September.
Incredible pressure from both sides
of the issue was now brought to bear upon the members of both the House and the
Senate. Most members knew how they would vote. There were only a few undecided
ones. In the end, the success or failure of the override would come down to three
questions: 1) Would Senator Jon Dolan make it back in time from military
service to vote; 2) How would Senator Michael Gibbons vote; and 3) How would
Senator James Mathewson vote. If proponents of HB 349 failed to secure
any of these votes, the override would fail and we would have to gear up for
another try in 2004.
The day started off on an upbeat note since the House voted to override Holden‘s veto (115 yes to 39 no) by a wider margin than they originally passed the bill. The Senate chamber started to buzz with the news of Senator Dolan's arrival. When HB 349 was brought up for discussion shortly after lunch, supporters were greeted by a great speech by Senator Gibbons where he outlined his research on the issue and announced that he would vote to override the veto. These two turns of events changed the mood of the anti's in the Senate. They were getting desperate. After listening to Senator Jacobs and Senator Bray belittle Senator Gibbons, Senator Jim Mathewson asked to be heard from the floor.
When Senator Mathewson started his speech, I thought we were done for and had lost. He talked about his friendship with Governor Holden and how he supports his friend. But, near the end, he said that on this issue, he would vote against Governor Holden. He announced from the floor that he intended to vote to override the veto. We had won! All that was left was the official vote. Everyone sat in silence... and then the vote was taken.
”Twenty-three ‘yes‘...ten ‘no‘...
the veto of HB 349 is overridden." YYEESSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!
After 12 long years of talking
while 19 other states took up the issue and passed a bill for their
citizens...we FINALLY passed LTC.
Will
The good news for those who may not be sure they like this law -- we are NOT the first state to do so. As stated before, in the 12 years that we have debated LTC, 19 other states have debated and passed similar but LESS RESTRICTIVE measures than HB 349.
What we do know is the FACT that in
each and every one of those states, opponents to License-to-Carry made the same
predictions about "blood in the streets," their states turning into
the "Wild West" and that "every accident or argument would
result in a shootout." For 12 long
years we have heard those arguments here in
We also know from the experience of those other states (now 35 with "shall-issue" legislation like HB 349) that honest, law-abiding people who have been issued licenses have used their licensed guns to protect their lives and the lives of others. We know that the initial fear that spread through each state after passage has calmed down and been replaced with the simple realization that the only people getting licenses are the "good guys."
NO! There will be no "Wild
West" in
Again, after 12 long years, we have given you a LTC law. Now you will have to be ever vigilant to keep it.
Greg Jeffery is the Legislative
Chairman of the Gateway Civil Liberties
For information on how you can
receive training to meet the requirements of Missouri‘s newly passed License-to
Carry Law the following are the phone numbers for the above listed
organizations: Gateway Civil Liberties Alliance (314) 385-4867 or (866)
385-4867; Missourians for Personal Safety – (314) 346-8629 or (417) 257-7457;
Western Missouri Shooters Alliance – (816) 333-9672.