In Missouri it’s a misdemeanor to give a kid a gun without parental consent. This is one of those laws that sounds logical from a distance. After all, we don’t need some crazy guy handing a six-year-old an Uzi, right?
Here’s what it really means: grandpa takes his grandson hunting…and it’s a misdemeanor if he hands his grandson a rifle without parental consent. Just like in the Evergreen State, laws that appear harmless on the surface can be fraught with issues.
Pro-gun rights Republican lawmakers in Missouri have decided to do something about it by pushing to have the existing law overturned, and the anti-gun side is none too happy.
Fox News reported on the reaction from the anti-gun side:
A bill to reverse a Missouri state law that prohibits people from giving children firearms without their parents’Â permission advanced Monday.
Gov. Mike Parsons sought to increase the penalty for the crime, which is currently a misdemeanor, but the GOP-dominated state House disagreed.
Plot twist: Gov. Mike Parsons is a Republican. That’s right, boys and girls, not all Republicans are pro-Second Amendment. Parsons responded to an attempt to overturn the existing law by trying to come down even harder on people deemed to be breaking it. When he realized he wasn’t going to get his way, this is what Parsons said:
“Weâre making it easier for people to let kids play with guns without the consent of parents,â he said.
Yes, we’re handing out rifles and handguns like candy to toddlers in the streets. That’s exactly how this works.
How did it end in the House? The AP reported the following:
The Missouri state House on Tuesday passed legislation to end the misdemeanor crime of giving guns to children without their parentsâ permission, along with a number of other bills aimed at addressing violent crime.
Republican Gov. Mike Parson had asked lawmakers to do the opposite – increase penalties for giving guns to minors – when he called them back to the C apitol for a special summer session on crime. He said the goal was to penalize criminals who unlawfully use firearms, then pawn them off on children to avoid being caught by police.
But the Republican-led House revisited the policy over concerns that grandparents or other family members could currently be charged with a misdemeanor for taking kids shooting without permission.
Instead, the House voted to ditch that law and only make it a felony to give firearms to minors if the intent is to avoid arrest or criminal investigation.
Republican bill sponsor Rep. Nick Schroer said the policy is focused on adults who are âvictimizing our youthâ and will reduce crime.
Finally, a logical bill. Protect the shooting sports while increasing penalties on criminals trying to use kids to hide guns they’ve used for crimes. From here it moves on to the Senate so we’ll see what happens there.
As the law currently stands there are myriad potential problems. For example, what if there’s a divorced father who wants to take his kids shooting? Does he have to get permission from what may be a high-conflict ex-wife?
It’s easy to claim laws are never abused, but everyone knows they are. It’s just the way things are. Any loophole or gray area can and will be blown wide open and charged right through.
I agree with the LAW,get parental consent or do not do it, not matter what we are talking about. Not the Gov., the church, family or friends, the parental consent only. That child is the parents responsibillity & no one has a right to supersede parents responsibillity & authority.
No
JOLJ is spot on. I have no problem with youths owning/using knives and guns, as long as the parents are in control of the decisions. Should a 14-yr-old have the ability to own and use a .22LR rifle? Yes! Should it be allowed for an outside adult to give a youth a rifle without the parents’ knowledge and permission? Absolutely not.
Parents are responsible for their children and their upbringing. Not the village, not the government, not the public school teacher union, not Uncle Jethro, and certainly not the next door neighbor.
I agree 100% with JOLJ. We don’t need more deceitful odious
damnable “LBJ/KGB” style nanny states laws!
Could someone please tell me… is it okay in Mo. to hand a juvenile fellow “protester ” a Molotov cocktail ? Keep in mind that the left considers anyone under 25 or so to be a “youth”.
No note from your mommy needed.
Molotov cocktails are weapons.
Arson is not a felony.
Edit Molotov cocktails are not weapons.
Sorry, MMEE, but I beg to differ–or, should I say, the BATFE begs to differ. Molotov Cocktails are classified as destructive devices by the BATFE (who should know, since they’re experts at really big fires) and are illegal to manufacture or possess (as per the National Firearms Act.)
Also, arson is a felony in most jurisdictions. Missouri, for example, has three levels of arson. Two are felonies, the third is a misdemeanor–but that one is for “negligent burning or exploding.” I highly doubt that anyone employing a Molotov cocktail could claim they didn’t know what the results of their action would be.
Nice try, though… NOT!
“Arson is not a felony.”
Say, what? It is in Florida…
Only a guess, but I think MM is sarcastically referring to the lack of charges being laid at the feet of the rioters committing arson, guys. đ
But yeah, molotov’s aren’t legal.
JOLJ – I guess you should get a note from your mommy before you join a gang.
If you give a or sell a firearm to anyone and they commit a crime, etc. you are in hot water. Waaaaay too many strings attached to the current law that need to go.
Rest assured the current law is seasoned with Gun Control and Gun Control is rooted in racism so look before you leap.
Typical TAG comment. YOU ARE NOT IN HOT WATER IF YOU GIVE YOUR GUN TO ANYONE and they commit a crime, unless you know their intent (and that is hard to prove unless you or the receiving party is stupid enough to admit it) is for them to commit the crime.
The way it is, gang members will give firearms to 15 or 16 year old because the penalty for the kid is lower if non existent. You would be able to charge them on providing a firearm to an underage kid, but now you have to prove intent, see above.
“If you give a or sell a firearm to anyone and they commit a crime, etc. you are in hot water.”
Incorrect, Deborah. Once you sell a gun to someone, anything they do with it is on the buyer, not the seller, *unless* the seller knows that the person they were selling it to cannot legally possess it.
Leftist scum would *love* to hold gun sellers liable for what the buyers *might* do with them. Example – Sell your car to someone who next week gets drunk and kills someone. Is that the seller’s fault?
Happened to me, traded a gunm to a guy, he shot somebody with it two days later, I thought Oh shit oh shit. Cops never showed up or ask me nothing.
You are an IDIOT, if that was true, then most partents would not pawn off raising their kids to the liberal teachers… and how do you prove if your child had permission? Which parent is required to give it? Do both in a divorced marriage? What about a mother who has not told the father? How about adopted kids? do you go to their biological parents or the adoptive ones?
You’re absolutely right. Parents should need to provide consent. Divorced parents who have shared custody should be able to provide consent or do it on their own. Others, however, should not.
Our “Republican’t” legislature and governor went through a bought of “do something” over the gang shootings and murder rates in St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri. Fortunately they realized how stupid this was and stopped it. It is an old gang trick to have minors commit crimes with guns because they will get off easier if caught, you know the “juvenile gun loophole”.
The real problem in these two Democrat jurisdictions is failure to solve and prosecute murders.
On a happier note around 100 youth went through the rifle program at the scout camp where I teach.
“Yes, weâre handing out rifles and handguns like candy to toddlers in the streets. Thatâs exactly how this works.”
Now that I could get behind
UH,……how about doing something about the DEFECTIVE CITIZEN problem in St. Louis and all the other Democrat controlled cesspools. Cure the DEFECTIVE CITIZEN problem and the murder, crime,…..and the perceived need for Police Reform will magically disappear. It’s not GUN VIOLENCE. It is DEFECTIVE CITIZEN VIOLENCE. If one can’t….won’t….identify and correctly refer to a problem, it will never be resolved. It’s that know thine enemy thingy. But, then, crime is an effective Lefty tool, and DEFECTIVE CITIZENS are the Left’s Government Plantation Dwellers. Without the crime type problems, Leftys won’t have a victim population to be the saviors of from the non-victim population. Politicians and Leftys always create a problem they purport to be the solution for….always in exchange for power, wealth, control.
The only long term solution is to educate the children about their American birth right. But try and explain that to gun owners who have no children and are singe and not married.
“Firearm Education: Teaching the Second Amendment in Kentucky school system grades K through 12”
http://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/bis437/149
And to think when I was considered a minor in the eyes of the law I spent much of my youth with a rifle or shotgun daily. Without parental supervision. Everything from shooting for fun to hunting for food. As I grew old enough to drive we took our rifles and shotguns to school and left them hanging in the back window of our Unlocked trucks. As did some of the teachers and administrators. If someone got something new it got passed around either before or after school for all to see including teachers and administrators. No one was accidentally shot, No Mass School Shootings. There wasn’t even a shooting or murder in my town or county the whole time I was growing up. What’s changed in the last 40+ years? Certainly not the availability of firearms. The farther Society gets from the practices of 50 years ago. The Morals and Ideals that made for a kinder gentler society. Gives Us what We are now seeing. A Society that abandoned the teachings of what is know as the “Greatest Generation” for the Progressive Ideology that has led Us to the Chaos We see today. It’s Not about Firearms. It’s about Control and forever altering the path that lead this Nation to being the Greatest in the history of Humanity. “We the People” can no longer sit on the sidelines and watch as others prey upon Society. “We the People” must wrest control of Society once more and lead it back to it’s former glory. It is not only Our Right. It is Our Responsibility. Keep Your Powder Dry.
Ditto here. My parents didn’t even know when I bought my first .22LR from a buddy. He had it, I wanted it, I paid him $20. I didn’t even have any problem buying ammunition, at age 12 and 13.
I guess I’m lucky that I didn’t get one of those evil guns, that jump out of closets, and wander around at night, looking for someone to kill. Mine was a good gun, that sat, waiting patiently for me to get it out of the closet.
I’m old enough that the first gun that I bought was out of the JC Penney Christmas catalog… a model 70 ( with a laminate stock, first I had ever seen). Paid cash and strapped it to the banana seat on my Schwinn bicycle for the ride home. Those were the days!!
Late bloomer you are. đ
Got my 1st, Crossman 760 Pumpmaster when I was 6 having to use nearly my entire weight to pump it, lol. Graduated to a Remington 552 a year later. Stevens break barrel .410 that I didn’t have long, though I don’t remember the model, at 8th b-day. Mossy 500 in 20 ga. @ 10, and so on.
Only thing my guns murdered growing up was several tons of small to mid sized game. Also, a genocidal campaign of the utmost prejudice waged against all cans, paper targets, and sometimes pennies without distinction.
I AGREE 999,999,999,999,999,999,999,9999-,999,999,999,999,999 % WITH YOU.
I GREW UP IN CONNECTICUT AND ALL MY FRIENDS USED TO DO THE SAME THING BRINGING OUR RIFLE’S AND SHOTGUNS TO SCHOOL BECAUSE WE HAD GUN CLUB’S
SINCE THE LEFTIST TOOK OVER OUR SCHOOL’S AND MAKING THEM GUN FREE ZONES THEY MADE IT EASIER FOR NUT CASES TO HARM OR KILL OUR KID’S .
IN OTHER WORDS A TURKEY SHOOT FOR THE CRIMINALS BECAUSE THEY KNOW THAT THERE IS NO ONE TO PROTECT THEM.
Parental consent is huge here. I agree that nobody should take my kids shooting without my consent. Especially not grandpa, weird uncle, or older âfriendsâ. Theyâre probably going to pass on bad habits, unconventional ideas about gun safety, and lots of misinformation.
If grandpa is a certified firearms instructor or genuinely exceeds my own knowledge, skill, and experience, then yay. Why wouldnât I consent? But you gotta ask me first.
Certain things are difficult to unlearn if you start off without the proper foundation. Stick shift driving, car maintenance, electrical work, cooking, etc.
Responsible parents, one or both, know where their children are, who they are with and what they are doing. Responsible people don’t just take a kid hunting or to a shooting range without asking/informing the parents. No need for such laws. Do statistics exist that indicate any major problem this law is said to control? So many of these so called “for the children” laws are straw dogs!
Hmm. You have a point there. While the law seems right in principle, it doesnât serve a substantial need. Any grandpa, weird uncle, or unapproved friend who takes my kid anywhere without my consent better be willing to accept natural consequences, law or no law.
If my children’s grandparents had been so inclined and I fell under this stupid law I would have said, “You have my permission to put guns in my children’s hand in perpetuity until I rescind this permission.” End of story. End of stupid problem.
I’m all for gunms, but I do not think Jack Sprat should be able to give a gunm to Orphan Annie without her parents consent.
Annie would spread for anyone, that shameless slut… đ
Orphan Annie’s parents? possums gotz a sense of humor. Shudder.
The blame for this socialist elitist people control age discriminatory shit can be rightly blamed on Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) and the late Thomas Dodd (D): treasonous U.S. Senator from Connecticut and LBJ’s then lieutenant in the U.S. Senate. The passage of the damnable 1968 Federal Gun Control Act ushered this in: political age discrimination aimed at youth under 18 and 21. GCA ’68 set a bad precedent here. The crimes of LBJ, Thomas Dodd, Ted Kennedy, both the Earl Warren and Warren Supreme Courts from this era have long since done irreparable permanent damage to our republic of which our nation has never recovered! To date I have not seen yet an anti-gun politician who wasn’t deceitful crooked immoral treasonous and socialist! The national distrust of Washington, D.C. and the federal government did not start with Richard M. Nixon and Watergate back in 1974. No! It started and began with the treasonous socialist ilk I have already named! Our government controlled socialist public schools, colleges, universities, and academia who walk in lockstep with a dishonest news media continue to whitewash these career criminal politicians from our nation’s shameful past! Collectively they stand condemned and rightly deserve and warrant full blame!
As long as you’re ok with me giving your kids hard-core gay porn and Satanism primers without your permission, I’m ok with you giving my kids guns without my permission.
I got my first pair of cap guns when I was 3 (1947). At 7 I got a real BBgun. At 10 I got a .22 rifle. At 13 I got a .300 Savage deer rifle and killed my first deer at 14. At 18, the USMC handed me an M1, among other cool toys, and taught me how to use them to kill people. At 20 I went to VN and traded in the M1 for a M-14, and occasionally an M3 grease gun or M-60, a 1911, grenades, and assorted other weapons and proceeded to kill people. Later on in my career (30 years), I learned such fun things as how to deploy tactical nukes.
Now, I’m an old man with some long guns and handguns and know how and when to use every damn one of them. I carry everywhere.
I don’t want to hear any bullshit from a bunch of lefty assholes about weapons or personal defense.
I really don’t think this law was designed to punish grandpa for taking his grandkids hunting or shooting. It’s more likely about the leader of a drug gang handing a gun to his 15 year old lookout.
As far as the family situation goes, whatever happened to “Go check with your parents”? Unless your child and child-in-law are absolute morons, they want to know where their kid is, especially if they’re going to be gone for several hours.
As a newly minted Granddad, I hope to see the day when I bring my granddaughters to the range. I certainly don’t expect any pushback from their parents, but if there was I’d respect their place and let it drop.That said, I wouldn’t just take my grandchild to the range, or the movies or the mall without their parents knowing where we are. It’s just common sense and common courtesy.
This is why the conservatives have been saying for decades there has been a War against the Traditional Family. So family members can’t give things to each other. Unless the state approves?
Or parents who have educated and trained their own children to be responsible. Can’t go buy guns and ammo without the states permission?
What scenarios are this law meant to cover? In which a person gives a child a firearm, against the parents’ permission, and then nothing else of note happens that would give rise to another charge you could bring against the gun giver. If it’s criminal gang activity, there’s probably another charge in there. On the other side, who is turning their child over to stay with a grandpa who is taking them on secret, unsanctioned hunting trips? If they are sanctioned, then who exactly is going to report that this “crime” is occurring? Is a game warden going to ask grandpa for a signed permission slip? And if grandpa is taking the child against the parents wishes, isn’t that the much more serious crime of kidnapping?
Has anyone ever been charged with breaking this law?
The law is government overreach.
The intent is honorable. No responsible adult would ever hand a firearm to a child without asking for the parents consent.
I have 14 grandchildren and have consulted each child’s parent before taking them shooting, fishing, kayaking or even out for fast food.