St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones approved a bill that requires gun owners desiring to display their firearms to obtain a permit.
Under Board Bill 29, concealed carry permit holders must be at least 19 years old.
Jones signed the bill on Thursday, August 3.
But one conservative group says the measure is useless because state law prohibits municipalities from disarming gun owners.
“It’s another attempt to try to cover their failed anti-policing policy,” said Byron Keelin, president of the Freedom Principle MO, a Missouri-first 501(c)3. “They’ve been working to defund and dismantle the police, and they are replacing police with social justice people who are not doing an effective job at fighting crime so they're blaming the guns for their inability to provide residents with a safe environment.”
State law currently does not require a Concealed Carry Weapon license to conceal carry, according to USConcealedCarry.com.
But buildings owned, leased, and controlled by a Missouri municipality or county can require a Concealed Carry Permit for open carry.
“We've heard from several people who are connected with law enforcement that the police don't have the manpower to try and enforce this, and because it's putting the police in jeopardy by possibly requiring them to confront somebody that is open carrying a gun,” Keelin told the St. Louis Record. “Are they going to ask their age before they approach them?”
Keelin also argues that BB 29 is in direct conflict with Missouri Statute 21.750 Section 3 (2)(b)(c), which states that police can’t approach a person openly carrying a firearm unless they are suspected of a crime, and if the police stop them, they can’t take away their firearm unless they are under arrest.
“There’s the possibility that a person who is being approached by a cop considers it a hostile action, which could create unnecessary confrontation that shouldn't really be happening,” he said.
St. Louis ranked in second place after New Orleans for homicide rates among 75 U.S. largest cities, according to a 2022 Wirepoints report. St. Louis had 68.2 homicides per 100,000 population compared to 74.3 in New Orleans followed by Baltimore with 58.1, Detroit at 48.9, and Memphis at 45.9.
"I wish the leaders in St. Louis would just be serious," Keelin added. "BB 29, in my view, is just checking a box to say that they're addressing guns and the simple fact is that the biggest purchaser of guns now are people in the black community. They are buying guns because they don't feel that government does enough to protect their safety."