The Reporter newspaper, Camdenton Missouri

The Reporter covers Miller, Morgan and Camden County in Central Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks and is published once per week on Wednesdays.

Published June 4, 2014

Residents fire back at gun control

By Jeff Thompson
LAKE OZARK - A proposed ordinance that would ban “open carry” of firearms in the city was tabled by city officials after a number of residents spoke out against the measure.

The Board of Aldermen voted to table the second reading of the ordinance at last week’s meeting.

The proposed regulation would prohibit the open display of firearms “readily capable of lethal use in a public place” and had been brought to the board May 13 at the request of Police Chief Mark Maples.

Although there had been no public comment on the measure at the May 13 meeting - with the exception of Alderman Betsey Browning during the first reading - several residents voiced their displeasure at the proposed open carry ban.

“I’d like to point out this is a right,” one resident said. “We’ve been doing this for 250 years.”

He went on to say that he has received compliments for his practice of open carry and that threats to the Second Amendment have to stop.

“If you don’t use it (your rights), you’re going to lose it,” he added.

Another resident said she is not against all gun control but the proposed ordinance goes too far.

“I do have a problem when our Constitution is attacked,” she said.

A final resident brought a history lesson with his comments.

He talked about an incident that occurred in Lake Ozark during the 1960s with large crowds threatening to overwhelm the local police presence.

He said that what stopped that incident from becoming a riot was a Missouri State Highway Patrol response and 23 local families whose members openly carried firearms.

He cautioned the board to carefully consider their actions, adding that if the ordinance passes the city would run into problems enforcing it.

“Everyone take time to think about this,” he said to the board.

Apparently the aldermen took the resident at his word.

Alderman Tony Otto made a motion to table the second reading until the full board could vote on the measure; Aldermen Larry Buschjost and Betsey Browning were absent from the May 27 meeting.

Police Chief Maples had said at the May 13 board meeting he had received a number of complaints about people openly carrying firearms specifically on the Bagnell Dam Strip.

He added that the combination of firearms and drinking establishments along The Strip was - in his opinion - not a good idea.

“It’s like the “Wild West’ or something,” Maples had said. “It really becomes a safety concern; I don’t see it as a good mix.”

There are a number of exceptions to the ordinance including police officers, prosecuting attorneys, coroner and medical examiners and probation and parole officers.

In addition, the ordinance “shall not apply to persons who are engaged in a lawful act of defense” on connection with “stand your ground” state statute (RSMo 563.031).

City Attorney Roger Gibbons had said that while state statues allow the open carry of firearms, the state also allows municipalities to enact their own open-carry regulations.

The ordinance itself explained Gibbons’ assertion in a footnote:

“Pursuant to 21.750, RSMo, a political subdivision of the State of Missouri may regulate the open carrying of firearms readily capable of lethal use or the discharge of firearms within its jurisdiction.”

Alderman Browning had asked if the new regulation applies to business owners.

Maples had stated that the ordinance is “more geared to public places like the sidewalk.”