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 September 24, 2014

Legislature ruling hits LO gun ban

By Jeff Thompson
LAKE OZARK - The Missouri Legislature’s recent override of Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of Senate Bill 656 has left the city’s ban on open weapons carry in new - but not unexpected - territory.

Nixon vetoed SB 656 on July 14, but the legislature voted to override that veto on Sept. 10 during a special two-day session.

According to a summary of the bill itself by the Missouri Senate, “(t)his act provides that the open carrying of a firearm may not be prohibited by a political subdivision for any person with a valid concealed carry endorsement or permit in his or her possession who presents such endorsement or permit upon the demand of a law enforcement officer.

“In addition, no person carrying a concealed or unconcealed handgun may be disarmed or physically restrained by a law enforcement officer unless under arrest or if there is no reasonable and articulable suspicion of criminal activity. Any person who violates these provisions may be issued a citation for up to $35. No ordinance of a political subdivision may be construed to preclude the use of a firearm to defend property or persons.”

Essentially, the senate bill overrides the city’s ordinance up to a point: the open carrying of weapons will be allowed but only if the person has a valid concealed carry endorsement.

The city had first broached the open carry ban issue during a Board of Aldermen meeting on May 13 when an ordinance prohibiting the open display of firearms “readily capable of lethal use in a public place” was granted first-reading approval by the board.

The proposed regulation had been brought to the board at the request of former police chief Mark Maples.

Maples had said he received a number of complaints about people openly carrying firearms specifically on the Bagnell Dam Strip and added 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.”

SB 656 also states:
* School districts will be allowed to designate one or more school teachers or administrators as a school protection officer who would be authorized to carry a concealed firearm or self-defense spray device; and
* Licensed health care professionals or persons under the supervision of the professional may not be required by law to ask a patient whether he or she owns or has access to a firearm, document firearm ownership or access in a patient's medical records, or notify any governmental entity of the identity of a patient based solely on the patient’s status as a firearm owner or the patient’s access to a firearm.
Other House and Senate bills previously vetoed by Nixon that were overridden by the Legislature include:
* House Bill 1307, changing the minimum waiting period before a woman can have an abortion from 24 hours to 72 hours;
* Senate Bill 829, modifying provisions relating to the burden of proof in tax liability cases; and
* Senate Bill 523, prohibiting school districts from requiring a student to use an identification device that uses radio frequency identification to transmit certain information.