NRA brief supports concealed gun law
By PETER SHINKLE
Post-Dispatch
10/21/2003
The National Rifle Association is trying to enter the court case over Missouri' s new concealed weapons law to argue that it does not violate the state' s constitution.
A St. Louis circuit judge blocked enforcement of the statute Oct. 10 after ruling that it conflicts with Missouri' s constitution. Judge Steven Ohmer has set a hearing for Thursday to consider whether to issue a permanent injunction blocking the issuance of concealed weapons permits to citizens under the law.
The NRA filed a " friend of the court" brief in court Monday contending that the provision cited by the judge does not block the Missouri Legislature from regulating concealed weapons.
" It' s always been a matter of legislative discretion to regulate concealed weapons in public - who can carry them, who cannot," said Stephen Halbrook, a Fairfax, Va., attorney for the NRA.
The NRA supports concealed-carry laws. About 40 states now have laws enabling citizens to obtain permits to carry concealed guns, Halbrook said.
Ohmer is expected to rule Thursday on whether to permit the NRA to intervene in the case.
One of the 13 plaintiffs in the case, state Sen. Maida Coleman, D-St. Louis, voiced displeasure with the national gun group' s efforts to enter the case.
The plaintiffs " are just trying to do what' s best for the citizens in the state of Missouri, but here' s a giant that' s coming to cram it down our throat," Coleman said.
The NRA supported a concealed gun measure that Missouri voters rejected in 1999. It also supported the Missouri bill that became law last month when the Republican-controlled Legislature overrode a veto by Gov. Bob Holden, a Democrat.
At issue is the section of the state constitution that says: " The right of every citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person and property, or when lawfully summoned in aid of the civil power, shall not be questioned; but this shall not justify the wearing of concealed weapons."
The plaintiffs contend that this provision clearly means that the constitution bans concealed weapons.
But the NRA brief says instead that the section " assures legislators that they are not violating the constitution when they enact regulations specifying the circumstances under which concealed weapons may or may not be carried."
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THE NRA, WHERE WOULD YOU AS A GUN-OWNER BE WITHOUT THEM.
GUN-OWNERS, UNITED WE STAND DIVIDED WE FALL.
NRA trying to come to Mo. defense.
