Democratic representatives considering legislation to ban teens from purchasing semi-automatic weapons
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
State Rep. David Tyson Smith (D-Columbia) took to Twitter on Thursday and said that he is considering filing legislation next session to ban teenagers from purchasing semi-automatic weapons.
I’m considering filing legislation next session banning teenagers from the ability to purchase semi automatic weapons in Missouri.
— David Tyson Smith (@dts4mo) May 26, 2022
The post comes days after the school shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Rep. Smith said that something has to be done.
"Obviously after what happened in Texas, I thought, let me just look into this," Rep. Smith said that he doesn't want to be reactive, and "just fire something off, but I want to look into it and see if there's something that possibly can be done."
Rep. Smith said, "I don't think any of us want to live in a society where children are getting gunned down. I mean, that's gross."
Rep. Smith said that since this is in the early stage, and not just a thought, he said that he is starting by asking questions and finding more information. "Would this be a ban on handguns, shotguns, or assault rifles? Most likely, it would be definitely on assault rifles."
State Rep. Chuck Basye (R-Rocheport) said "making it harder for a law-abiding citizen to buy a firearm is not the answer."
Rep. Basye said, "I dispute the notion, I think every weapon is an assault weapon if you describe it that way." Basye said that the term assault rifle is a "catchy term right now that catches people's attention."
"I think this is a situation where somebody that had evil intent did something, and he just happened to use a firearm to do it," Rep. Basye said that it's a terrible tragedy, but "you can't blame the firearms, you got to blame the individual."
Rep. Basye said that no law can prevent incidents like this from happening, "crooks, criminals, thugs are going to break the law." Basye said that the Texas shooter broke laws and "there is no law that can keep this from happening."
