Local lawmakers, advocacy groups react to deadly Florida high school shooting
A large crowd gathered at Calvary Episcopal Church in Columbia Thursday night for the Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America meeting.
The local gun reform advocacy group met for its monthly meeting just one day after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida that killed 17 people.
“We are all mourning and so devastated by the tragedy in Florida,” said Columbia group leader Kristen Bowen. “Yet another community devastated by gun violence.”
The group met to discuss its upcoming Advocacy Day scheduled for next Tuesday. That’s where members from across the state will go to Jefferson City to bring their concerns about gun legislation filed this session.
Bowen said one bill the group is concerned about is HB 1936 filed by Rep. Jered Taylor.
“We call it a ‘guns everywhere’ bill,” she said.
The bill summary is as follows:
“This bill makes changes to the list of locations an individual can carry a concealed firearm within this state and the list of locations an individual with a concealed carry permit can carry a concealed firearm within the state. This bill also prohibits the state, political subdivisions, and public institutions of higher learning from imposing any policies or contractual requirements that would have the effect of prohibiting employees or students from the carrying of concealed firearms into locations where concealed carry is not otherwise prohibited by law.”
“No changes have been made to the penalties for carrying a concealed firearm in locations prohibited under these sections.”
HB 1936 and other gun-related bills will be heard by the General Laws Committee next Tuesday evening.
Rep. Chuck Basye, who serves on the committee and supports removing gun-free zones, said he believes the bill is simply looking to clarify current language in the state’s conceal carry law.
“I think the intent of this bill is to clarify that and try to, I don’t want to say remove the language, but we’re going to try to clarify and try to clean up the way the statute is written,” he said.
Basye also described Wednesday’s school shooting in Florida as a tragedy.
“There’s no other way to put it,” he said. “I just can’t imagine the heartache those parents have and the other students that witnessed all that. I just can’t imagine. Having said that, it’s another example of a gun-free zone.”
