Maplewood killed OC last year, I was infromed (by the powers to be in J.C.) this very well could be the year for OC in Missouri, the emphysis was placed on no bad press! The above person who was involved with the Washington incident posted he was going to OC there. Yes it is "legal" but Washington is known for not being OC friendly (Personal experience) and I informed him and asked him not to OC in washington for just one month! One month till the end of the legislative session!! I knew what the folks in Jefferson City were telling me and I told him.
Cop stop filming, OC not good press..... these do not work in our favor. It's a big election year, the folks running for office will dodge any bad press like they did last year.
I'm working on a couple of things to put a positive spin on this. If 'ya all want to email leadership and "your" elected representatives in Jeff City, use this (email them the story) to show them how our legal 2A rights are being eliminated and art. 1 sec. 23 is the constitution in Missouri. The right to keep and bear arms is being infringed by none less than "local" government. What other constitutional right can be prohibited by "local" government?
With the very pro-2A majority, both parties have pro-2A legislators, if we can't get OC rights this year, it probably will not be done for years to come.
Bad press, even if it is "legal" is not good for OC rights. I and group of others have worked our tails off, many of you wrote and emailed, some even went to Jeff City, either with our group on on your own. I applaud your commitment. We worked the system, made friends with legislators, testified in hearings and dotted the I's and crossed the "t"s then got royally rolled over by the NRA and now this bad press.
It's politics folks, like it or not they play the game and duck for cover when bat guano hits the fan. The fan is turning. Becaus eof my political contacts over many years, volunteer work and contributions I have th ears of many legislators in Jeff City and I've exhausted everything thsi year for OC rights. There are other OCers here on the forum that have done research, help draft documents and committed a lot of time and resources to this effort.
OC is a very touchy subject and there are/were plans for dealing with OC rights (none of which I can discuss on the public forum) waiting for the end of the session next month. We wil have to see on that one. Mean while this bad press, whether you agree or not may have shot us in the back. Not my thought, the reality of Missouri politics and our legislature.
Mark Twain (I may be paraphrasing) "NO one in Missouri is safe as long as the legislature is in session in Jefferson City."
Sorry Mr. Bess, I asked you not to OC in Washington Missouri for one month, one very small period of time. There was a reason for it, more than I can fully explain here but I gave you a hint yesterday in the PM I sent you. You now know who your State Senator is and why I asked you not to OC in Washington, MO.
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Usmcbess, when was it that you took your trip to Washington that had such poor results? I seem to recall that it was in early April.
From what I can tell, there are several potential tracks to getting OC (at least partially) fixed in MO.
1. SB680 - Does not look good. The committee has had it since 2/2/2012 and not had a single hearing. It's dead and has been dead for almost 3 months.
2. HB1638 - Also does not look good. It's committee has had it since 2/8/2012 and done nothing with it. It's dead, and has been dead for about 3 months.
3. HB1369, which was merged into HB1319, and that had it's OC provision stripped out on 3/7/2012. The OC part has been dead for 2 months.
4. An unnamed, magic, invisible bill that will sail through both houses before Midnight May 30th after 3 others have failed to do so.
I'm not going to bet my pony on any of these. But, I don't see how any actions in the month of April, and that are just getting publicity now, are preventing anything from moving forward, looks like there's other forces at work for much longer.
And, I do not think someone going about their business in Washington and the stupid young man's actions in Maplewood are comparable.
Could someone explain to me how this is working, it makes no sense to my little mind.