Gun rights are expansive in Missouri, where shooting at Chiefs' Super Bowl celebration took place

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The shooting that killed one person and wounded nearly two dozen more during the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl victory celebration occurred in a state with few gun regulations and historic tension over how major cities handle crime.

The shooting, which Kansas City police say appeared to stem from a dispute between several people, happened despite the presence of more than 800 police officers on hand. Two juveniles have been charged, authorities said Friday.

Notably, dozens of policymakers from Missouri and neighboring Kansas were caught in the chaos as throngs of fans scattered at the sound of gunshots. Lawmakers and elected officials who witnessed the havoc firsthand included Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson and Democratic Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, whose security detail heard the shots after she got in her car to leave, a spokesperson said.

Missouri state Rep. Emily Weber, a Democrat who represents the area, said Friday that she rushed into a bathroom at the city's historic Union Station when the shooting occurred.

“To experience this day of horror as it happened in my own district only reaffirms my belief that Missouri needs common sense gun safety laws more than ever,” Weber said in a statement. “Missouri’s lax gun laws turned what was supposed to be a day of triumph into a day of tragedy.”

What action Missouri's Republican-led Legislature may take in response to the shooting is unclear.

House Majority Leader Jon Patterson, of suburban Kansas City, said Friday in a statement that lawmakers should “of course look at public policies that allowed the shooting to happen; that includes guns.”

“But we should also look at what policies contributed to two teenagers taking guns to a parade and ruining their lives, while harming and killing others in broad daylight,” Patterson said. “I think if we did that, we’d see that this is a much bigger problem than just gun laws.”

Here's a look at Missouri's gun policies and how elected officials want to address crime:

A PRO-GUN STATE

Missouri has some of the most expansive guns rights among states as a result of a series of measures passed by the Republican-led Legislature over the past few decades.

Before the GOP won full control of the Legislature in the 2002 elections, concealed weapons were outlawed and handguns could be purchased only after a background check and permit from local sheriffs. Republican lawmakers repealed those restrictions within their first decade of power, and gun shops saw rising sales.

Missouri currently has no age restrictions on gun use and possession, although federal law largely prohibits minors from carrying handguns.

Voters fortified gun rights in 2014, approving a constitutional amendment placed on the ballot by lawmakers making the right to bear arms “unalienable” and subjecting any restrictions “to strict scrutiny.”

Two years later, the Republican supermajority in Missouri’s Legislature overrode a veto of then-Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, to allow most adults to carry concealed guns without needing a permit. The legislation also created a “stand-your-ground” right, expanding the legal use of guns in self-defense.

A 2021 Missouri law pressed gun rights even further, prohibiting local police from enforcing federal gun restrictions. The measure got struck down by a federal judge last year and remains on hold while under appeal.

WHAT ARE LAWMAKERS DOING?

Republican legislative leaders have expressed little interest in any laws that would restrict firearm use and possession in Missouri. But the shooting might open the door for more conversations on the issue.

Republican Rep. Lane Roberts — a former police chief from southwestern Missouri who later joined the Legislature — last year proposed limiting children from openly carrying guns in public without parental supervision in an effort to combat rising crime in St. Louis. The bill failed by a 104-39 vote. Only one Republican voted in support of it.

Republican House Speaker Dean Plocher abruptly left a news conference Thursday after being asked by reporters for details on the GOP strategy for addressing crime and when questioned about last year's vote on children carrying firearms.

An exception to Republicans' fierce resistance to gun regulations is an effort to crack down on celebratory gunfire, which has been an issue in Kansas City.

Missouri’s Legislature last year passed a bill to make shooting a firearm within city limits a misdemeanor for the first offense, with exceptions. The bill was named after 11-year-old Blair Shanahan Lane, who was dancing with a sparkler on July 4, 2011, outside her suburban Kansas City home and was struck in the neck by a stray bullet.

Blair’s Law was part of a sweeping crime bill that was later vetoed by Parson for unrelated reasons. The Missouri House gave approval to similar legislation just two days before the Chiefs' parade.

Other Republican-backed bills advancing in the House would exempt guns and ammunition from sales tax and allow people with concealed gun permits to bring weapons onto public transportation. Patterson said Friday that now, as the city is recovering from the shooting, “is not the appropriate time to be taking up those bills.”

A BROADER DEBATE

A large portion of the Kansas City metropolitan area is in Kansas, and a 43-year-old prominent DJ and mother who was killed Wednesday lived on the Kansas side.

The most visible and active gun safety movement in Kansas is in the Kansas City area. But Kansas law favors gun rights as much as Missouri's does, and Kansas added an amendment to fortify gun rights in its constitution four years before Missouri did — with 88% of the vote.

Now, Republican state Attorney General Kris Kobach and a majority of the state's GOP lawmakers are pushing for another amendment to make those protections even stronger.

“Having armed citizens affords a greater degree of protection in any situation,” Kobach told reporters Thursday. “We need good citizens to be armed, to help, because there just aren’t enough law enforcement officers to protect everybody, everywhere and every time.”

During a hearing last month before a House committee, critics predicted the change would prevent the state from prohibiting even convicted felons or domestic abusers from having guns.

“That's the really scary part of it,” said Rep. Jo Ella Hoye, a Kansas City-area Democrat who was at the parade with her 11-year-old son. “We could lose any current gun laws we have.”

GUNS AND CRIME IN KANSAS CITY

The number of killings in Kansas City rose to a record level last year, up to 182. Kansas City police data show there were 12 more killings in 2023 than in 2022 and three more than the previous all-time high of 179 in 2020. The police department data does not include officer-involved killings.

Kansas City elected officials are limited in what they can do.

Kansas City, with a population of about 508,000, about 28% Black, is the only Missouri city without local control of its police force. It’s believed to be the largest city in the U.S. in that situation, the mayor's office has said.

Leaders in the largely Democratic city don't hire the police chief or determine how the department spends its tax dollars. A 1930s-era law gives that power to a five-member board largely appointed by the Missouri governor, who since 2017 has been a Republican.

Missouri law also prohibits cities from enacting more stringent regulations on guns than state law does, although Kansas City bans gunfire within the city.

In recent years, mayors of both Kansas City and St. Louis have fought for control of their cities' public safety policies with primarily Republican lawmakers who argue high crime rates in the cities mean local leaders are failing. GOP lawmakers have also repeatedly rebuffed requests to allow urban areas to adopt stricter gun policies compared to the rest of the state.