Missouri Legislature Punts on Second Amendment on Public Transportation ... Again

The Missouri Legislature had once again killed a bill to restore the ability to legally exercise rights protected by the Second Amendment on public transportation. Senator Schnelting has been promoting these bills for years. They make progress, then they are killed by inaction. From mo.gov:

On April 10, HB328 passed the House, 106 to 45. HB328 was sent to the Senate. On April 22, the Senate Transportation, Infrastructure and Public Safety committee held a hearing on the bill. On April 24, an “SCS” (Senate Committee Substitute) was passed. No other action was taken on the bill before the Senate adjourned on May 14. Thus, the bill was killed by Senate inaction.

Most of the public testimony against the bill consisted of the “guns are bad” argument, with no statistical evidence to back up the emotional statements that people are afraid of guns, and where there are guns, something bad might happen.

People who have concealed carry permits are some of the most law abiding people in the country, several times more law abiding than police. Police are allowed to carry on mass transit in Missouri, but people with concealed carry permits are not allowed to do so.

What the legislature has failed to do may be accomplished in the courts. There are several challenges to bans on carrying guns on public transportation in the courts.

A Chicago judge has ruled bans on carry on public transportation are unconstitutional. The case is being appealed.

Analysis:

Virtually all the arguments against people carrying firearms on public transportation are either ideological “guns are bad” or means-ends “guns will cause bad things to happen”. The Supreme Court in the Bruen decision has settled those arguments. They are not to be used to determine if a restriction on the right to bear arms in public is Constitutional or not.

The Constitutional question is: were such bans commonly enshrined in law at the time of the ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791, or far less importantly, were such laws commonly imposed on the public during the period in which the Fourteenth Amendment was passed, after 1866 and before 1900? The answer is categorically no. The earliest such laws were passed in the 20th century, and they were very rare, only in a couple of eastern cities. Courts which uphold these laws are simply defying the Supreme Court. In part, it is bigotry against poor people.

Wealthy people seldom ride public transportation. Many of the people riding public transportation are black or Hispanic. Judges seldom ride public transportation.  In a recent hearing on the Missouri law, a Senator asked if a woman supporting the bill rode public busses. From komu.com:

 However, when Myers was questioned by Sen. Barbara Washington, D-Kansas City, Myers said she never rode a public bus and did not know if the group of women her organization spoke to had been injured as a bus rider.

The implication was clear. If the Second Rights supporter did not ride public buses, their rights were not being infringed.  For decades, the rights of poor people to bear arms were consistently infringed. It is when those infringements were being applied to the majority that Second Amendment supporters realized the rights have to be applied to all, or they can be taken from all, little by little.

©2025 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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