January is, in this line of work, usually pretty busy with various state legislatures coming back into session, filled with anti-gun fever dreams and pro-gun attempts at showing the other side what's for.
We usually get some stuff to talk about from both sides of the aisle, but for the most part, this year has been more about chaos in Minneapolis and absolute insanity in Virginia.
Ugh.
Luckily, nature is apparently healing, and so we've got something worth talking about that isn't either of those. It seems the state of Missouri is really trying to boost its status as a pro-gun state.
A Missouri House committee heard public testimony Wednesday on a bill that would prevent the enforcement of red flag laws even though none currently exist in the state.
Also known as extreme risk protection orders, red flag laws allow courts to call for the temporary seizure of a person's firearms if they pose a risk to themselves or others.
Anti-red flag bill sponsor and House Speaker Pro Tem Chad Perkins, R-Bowling Green, said "adult mature people" should be able to remove a family member's firearm without a court order.
"To assume that someone is guilty without probable cause is absolutely un-American," Perkins said.
There is no federal red flag law. More than 20 states have passed their own.
Rep. Steve Butz, D-St. Louis, filed a red flag bill this session. It has not been scheduled for a hearing. Rep. Ian Mackey, D-St. Louis County, has also proposed several similar bills in the past that did not receive hearings.
A ban on red flag laws isn't really going to do all that much. If there's a federal red flag law, Missouri isn't really going to be able to do much to prevent it, even just saying state and local cops can't enforce it. They tried that with all federal gun control laws, and they got smacked down for it. That will, unfortunately, happen here, too, should Congress embrace that particular bit of stupidity.
And banning the state from enforcing its own laws is kind of stupid, especially since any bill creating a red flag law would just include a clause overriding the ban. Nothing would change.
However, the bill isn't just about red flag laws.
Perkins' anti-red flag law bill is a sweeping piece of legislation that would amend a number of other firearms statutes, including lowering the minimum age to hold a concealed carry permit from 19 to 18.
It would also prevent local governments from regulating conceal and carry permits — currently, the sole legislating they are allowed to do in regards to firearms.
Additionally, Perkins' bill would create an automatic presumption that those using deadly force in self-defense acted within reason.
"A victim who fights back, successfully managing to protect themselves, should not be victimized a second time by our legal system," said Susan Myers, director of Missouri's chapter of Women for Gun Rights, who testified in support of the bill.
The bill would also provide immunity from criminal and civil prosecution for the use or threat of deadly force in self-defense, with few exceptions.
Honestly, while anti-gunners love to lose their minds over the presumption that those who act in self-defense were within reason, I fail to see how that's appreciably different from "innocent until proven guilty." You have to show definitively that their actions were unreasonable, just as you'd have to show they acted illegally in other cases.
Why is this so difficult for people to understand?
And immunity from prosecution is largely the same thing, though it spills over into civil cases, which makes sense considering how many anti-gunners want to make it untenable for anyone to act in self-defense.
I might be less than impressed with banning red flag law enforcement, but the rest of Perkins's bill is solid as they come. It's sad that there's a need for such things, but we're living in a world where we have to take such steps.
Missouri's come a long way from buddies in St. Louis needing to get a permit-to-purchase. I'll give them that.
Editor’s Note: President Trump and Republicans across the country are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.
Help us continue to report on their efforts and legislative successes. Join Bearing Arms VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member