@peterformo Missouri Republicans just voted for stripping local prosecutorial power in St Louis, but AGAINST prohibiting children from carrying guns in public. Cuz 12 year olds have a “constitutional right” to carry an AR-15 down the street in MO.
♬ original sound - Rep Peter Merideth
Republicans in the state legislature are attempting to strip power from St. Louis's Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, saying that she can't get a handle on crime in the city, but these same legislators are simultaneously doing everything they can to make violent crime an even more intractable problem in the city.
That was the gist of a three minute TikTok video put out by state Representative Peter Merideth (D-St. Louis), who described himself as pretty upset after Republicans in the house passed a bill that would take away Gardner's ability to prosecute violent crime in St. Louis and instead grant that authority to a special prosecutor appointed by the governor.
Merideth pointed out that while Republicans in Jefferson City decry the violence plaguing St. Louis, they don't seem particularly interested in hearing from St. Louisans themselves.
"Today they didn't even let the people of St. Louis City offer most of our amendments [that] we thought actually would help [with crime]," Meredith said.
Democrats wanted to add an amendment creating an "extreme risk protection order," which would allow police to take away a person's guns if they have been deemed a high risk to themselves or others. According to Merideth, Republicans in the house denied the amendment a vote.
"They won't even let us debate that here," Merideth said.
They also denied a vote for an amendment that would have allowed local police to work with federal law enforcement to reduce violent crime. Right now, Missouri law prohibits such cooperation.
Another amendment offered by Democrats but shot down by Republicans would have restored a law requiring gun owners to carry a permit, so if someone carrying a gun were stopped by police, it would be easier for police to know if that gun was legally possessed or not.
"They're tying the hands of police officers," Merideth said. "They're literally taking away the tools from our communities that are most helpful in addressing violent crime." Merideth added that Democrats were allowed to introduce an amendment forbidding children from carrying guns, but Republicans voted it down.
"Because in Missouri, it's 12-year-old's Constitutional right to carry an AR-15 down the street," Merideth said.
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones was in Jefferson City yesterday as the bill was being debated.
According to the Post-Dispatch, she said that state’s loosening of gun laws directly affects crime in St. Louis.
“Unfortunately we don’t have the opportunity to enact common sense gun laws on the local level,” she said.
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