Stop Pro-NRA Bills Just to Attack Lawmakers

Stop outrageous pro-NRA Missouri bills making it a felony to propose gun safety legislation.

Why is this important?

This past week Missouri State Rep. Mike Leara (R-St. Louis) proposed legislation:  “[a]ny member of the general assembly who proposes a piece of legislation that further restricts the right of an individual to bear arms, as set forth under the second amendment of the Constitution of the United States, shall be guilty of a class D felony.”

I am one of those legislators my colleague and the NRA is targeting.  Rep. Leara wants me to go to prison with his bill.

Why?  I filed a common sense bill calling for closing the background checks loophole in Missouri, almost identical to the proposal called for by the White House and other lawmakers around the country.

Over 2000 people in the U.S. have been killed by firearms to date since the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting...more than 30 lives are killed daily.  

Rep. Lear's response?  Criminalize legislators, like myself, for standing up against the NRA in Missouri by proposing common sense supported by the majority of citizens.

So why the political games to make it a felony for Missouri legislators to file gun safety bills? 

Rep. Lear stated, “I filed HB 633 as a matter of principle and as a statement in defense of the Second Amendment rights of all Missourians".  He said, “ I want it to be clear that the Missouri House will stand in defense of the people’s Constitutional right to keep and bear arms.”

We need responsible legislators in Missouri who care about saving lives, not ones who grandstand with the media and play political games just to get on comedy shows.    

Get serious or go home.

Missouri State Representative Stacey Newman