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St. Louis alderwoman introduces bill banning openly carrying guns without a permit

8th Ward Alderwoman Cara Spencer filed Board Bill 29, which would ban openly carrying guns for anyone who does not have a state concealed-carry permit.

ST. LOUIS — Violent crime continues to be top of mind for both residents and local leaders across St. Louis.

That's why 8th Ward Alderwoman Cara Spencer introduced a bill she hopes can help and make downtown streets safer.

"We've got to get it under control. Look, if we lose downtown, we're going to lose the city, we'll lose the region. What's going on down there is quite alarming and so I think getting those things under control is important to all of us," she said.

Videos of people walking around downtown St. Louis with long rifles have happened two weekends in a row, as the nights continue to get warmer.

"It is quite terrifying, so what we're hoping to do with this ordinance is really to rein in the open carrying of firearms," Spencer said.

That ordinance was introduced by the alderwoman Friday.

Spencer filed Board Bill 29, which would ban openly carrying guns for anyone who does not have a state concealed-carry permit.

"I have always wanted to rein in the open carrying of firearms, but we were just unaware of this path to do so," she said.

That path, according to Spencer, is through careful reading of a state law passed almost a decade ago.

"[It] preempts cities and jurisdictions in the state from enacting their own gun laws, with one exception, and that is with regards to open carrying of firearms. It allows for jurisdictions to restrict the open carrying of firearms for everyone except those that have a concealed carry permit," she said.

According to Spencer, it's something Kansas City has already enacted.

"The open carrying of firearms never became legal really there, never became the norm. In the city of St. Louis, we failed to do that, and so here we are, we're having to unwind that," she said.

Spencer believes it's important the city tries to take this path.

"We need to utilize all tools that we can to rein in the proliferation of guns in our communities," she said.

According to Spencer, she's received an overwhelming amount of support from the community.

"I am hopeful that we can get this done and pull those guns off our streets and make our communities a safer place to be," she said.

House Minority Leader, Crystal Quade, spoke on the issue of guns in Missouri on the latest episode of "The Record with Mark Maxwell."

She said crime shouldn't take a political side.

"It doesn't matter if you're a Republican or a Democrat, you want to feel safe in your home. You want your community to be a place that your kids can ride their bikes down the street and feel comfortable doing so," Quade said.

If the bill passes, Spencer hopes it would make enforcement easier.

"This will give our police department a tool to rein those in and get them just off the streets," she said.

More importantly though, Spencer hopes, it will save more lives.

"We know that having a gun is one thing, keeping it in your pocket, but having it in your hand is such a volatile situation. We know arguments that can turn deadly so quickly when you have your hand on a trigger and so this will hopefully eliminate that and make our city safer," she said.

Board Bill 29 was just introduced this past week, so it has been assigned a committee. 

It will then go through the committee process with hearings and Spencer is hoping for a public discourse, as well. 

Spencer said the most important thing is to educate people, if the bill is passed, before enforcement begins.

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