At 23 years of age, the Show Me state has had the highest age requirement for concealed carry in the nation. Legally an adult? Yep. Exercise the franchise? Check. Join the Army? Yes sir. Carry a heater? Uh, no…we really think you should really wait another five years. Until now, that is. Governor Jay Nixon, a Democrat, signed a new gun rights bill into law Friday that lowers the CCW age to 21. Other significant improvements enacted by the new law include prohibiting punitive sales taxes on firearms, enabling easier long gun purchases from contiguous states and allowing Missourians to own machine guns and suppressors (as long as you comply with federal law). Not big changes in the great scheme of things. But it’s more steady progress in the almost nation-wide advance of gun rights. And who wouldn’t be happy about that?
At the state level there’s almost all good news on 2A issues. Pay no attention to NJ, CA, or IL. Where states go, their elected representatives and senators eventually follow.
I still can’t believe that there are any age laws above suffrage age these days!?
“And who wouldn’t be happy about that?”
Aah, where to begin? Bloomberg, Feinstein, MikeB, Daly, McCarthy, Brady, Magoo . . . and so on.
Another small step for a man, another giant leap for mankind.
Missouri is fairly recent to the ranks of shall issue states. A few years ago it was a class D felony to carry a concealed weapon with the exception of being on property you lawfully controlled or an almost unknown exemption for those “traveling peacefully through the state”. More often than not, the police ignored this provision. A MSHP once told me that if you had a gun you could not be traveling peacefully. End of story. And this was from one of the better patrolmen.
When they finally did pass concealed carry they did away with the travel exemption. You must have a permit to carry concealed now.
There was a royal fight getting concealed carry passed. St. Louis (much like Chicago) screamed bloody murder and kept C.C. at bay for years. A compromise was reached that screwed the 21 and 22 year old citizens. Time has passed and now the legislature has decided to treat all citizens equally. Good on them.
And I am….. E. Zach Lee-Wright
The “peaceful journey” exception still applies. In fact, in MO, you can have a LOADED gun in your car w/out a permit
When does this new law take effect?
In MO, new laws always take effect around august 28 (tied to congressional calendar), unless there is a specific date in the bill
Could we raise the voting age back to 21 (18 for military)?
It would give an extra 3 years for teenage mush brains to better consider maybe voting for the cool candidate is not the point of voting.
Yeah so I am excited about this, but I am also sad about the fact that you have to 21 to get a CCW, when you can be 18 to either do a private transaction, or get a pistol gifted to you. I am 17, just so everyone knows, and I am very overwhelmed by the age restrictions on certain things pertaining to “gun laws”. You can be 18 years of age to smoke, and vote, but not drink. You can be drafted at 18, but cannot own a pistol. Now WTF is that BS? I am going to buy my first pistol soon, it will be a Glock 19 9mm, the common stuff right? I want to be able to conceal carry when I turn 18! We somehow need to get a bill into the Missouri Senate to lower the age restriction on CCW permits.
I will say one thing that I have found very funny reading some of these comments, the comment “It would give an extra 3 years for teenage mush brains to better consider maybe voting for the cool candidate is not the point of voting.” – Kat. I do agree with what she says, but also I would like to vote. I am very much into politics and I know my fair share.
P.S. “If you want to protect yourself, get a double-barrel shotgun,” Biden said in an interview with Parents Magazine back in February. “You don’t need an AR-15. It’s harder to aim, it’s harder to use, and in fact, you don’t need 30 rounds to protect yourself. Buy a shotgun. Buy a shotgun.” – JOE BIDEN
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