The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry is supporting a bill to impose tougher penalties for people who fire celebratory gunshots.
Similar legislation was vetoed as part of a larger crime bill last year, but this time “Blair’s Law” is standing on its own and has received bipartisan support.
The Missouri Chamber testified in favor of SB 788, sponsored by Sen. Greg Razer (D-Kansas City), which creates the offense of unlawful discharge of a firearm for reckless celebratory gunshots.
“Blair’s Law” is named after 11-year-old Blair Shanahan Lane who was killed by such gunfire during the Fourth of July in 2011 in the Kansas City area. It specifies that a person who commits the offense would be guilty of a class A misdemeanor for the first offense, a class E felony for the second offense and a class D felony for any third or subsequent offenses.
“I think this is perhaps the one and only bill that involves firearms that we all agree on,” Razer told members of the Senate Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee. “Celebratory gunfire is dangerous and causes property damage and that includes my own home.”
Representatives for Kansas City and St. Louis testified in favor of Blair’s Law, citing figures from their law enforcement departments on the impact of celebratory gunfire, including over 500 reports of shots fired between midnight and 2 a.m. early New Year’s Day in the City of St. Louis.
Kara Corches, vice president of governmental affairs for the Missouri Chamber, told lawmakers the Missouri Chamber supports this bill because the stray bullets from celebratory gunfire often cause property damage to businesses.
“We’ve seen countless reports from our members about windows blown out in their buildings and in their fleets of vehicles sitting in their parking lots,” Corches said.
Similar legislation has been filed in the Missouri House by Rep. Mark Sharp (D-Kansas City) with HB 1477 and Rep. Sherri Gallick (R-Belton) with HB 1437.
For more information, contact Corches at kcorches@missourichamber.com or (573) 634-3511.
