Missouri House advances bill allowing guns on buses, inside churches and synagogues

Missourians would be allowed to carry guns on public buses and inside churches and other places of worship under a bill advanced by the Missouri House Thursday.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Adam Schnelting, a St. Charles Republican, would allow people with concealed carry permits to carry guns on public transit in the state.

“We all have the potential of running into situations where we have to utilize self defense to protect ourselves and those we love,” Schnelting said on the floor Thursday. “This legislation will discourage criminal activity on our public transportation systems, but most importantly, it will ensure that we maintain our constitutional right to self defense.”

An amendment successfully added by state Rep. Ben Baker, a Neosho Republican, would also strike down the current rule banning concealed guns in places of worship without the permission of the religious leader of the congregation.

The Missouri House gave the bill initial approval on a voice vote Thursday. It will need one more vote before it heads to the Missouri Senate, which could come next week.

Democrats on Thursday criticized the legislation, saying it would broaden Missouri’s already loose gun laws as the state sees high rates of gun violence in the state’s urban areas.

“What kind of world are we creating with these kinds of laws? It’s absolute insanity, and it’s morally corrupt,” state Rep. Barbara Phifer, a St. Louis Democrat, said on the floor Thursday, referring to the amendment that allowed guns in churches.

The legislation comes amid instances of gun violence on Kansas City buses in recent years. In 2021, three people, including a police officer and a bus driver, were wounded in a shooting on a RideKC bus by a suspect in an alleged robbery. In 2017, another man was shot on a RideKC bus in downtown Kansas City after an altercation.

Kansas City saw its second-deadliest year in history in 2022 with 171 killings, marking the third year in a row with high reports of violence.

More than 150 people submitted testimony in favor of the bill when it was in the House Emerging Issues Committee earlier this month. Most supporters cited the need to protect themselves from potential criminals on buses.

Representatives and lobbyists from organizations and transit associations in the major cities in Missouri – Kansas City, St. Louis, Springfield and Jefferson City – all testified against the bill.

Jennifer Harris Dault, a St. Louis Mennonite pastor, told The Star Thursday she was disappointed that Republicans were trying to allow guns in churches while ignoring calls to enact gun regulations. Mennonites are historically peaceful and her congregation would not believe in bringing guns for personal protection.

“The idea that someone could legally bring a gun into our worship space, I don’t even want to think about it,” she said. “That’s so foreign to who we are. It would be basically an attack on our religious liberty.”

The bill does include a provision that would still allow places of worship to prohibit firearms if they post signage that they’re not allowed on the property.

William Bland, a member of the Western Missouri Shooters Alliance, previously wrote to Missouri lawmakers in favor of the bill, saying that current law prevents Missourians from exercising their constitutional right to carry.

“This is especially dangerous late at night. CCW permit holders are not the problem. They have been photographed, fingerprinted, investigated, and vetted. They have to demonstrate competency with a firearm,” he wrote. Bland did not return a call for comment Thursday.

Kimberly Cella, the executive director of the Missouri Public Transit Association, told The Star that allowing guns on public transit would seriously jeopardize federal funding.

Cella said transit providers like OATS Transit and SMTS, Inc., which are both non-profit transit providers for most rural areas of the state, would likely face issues with gathering funding.

Those providers, Cella said, have private contracts and receive federal funding, and there are requirements in those contracts that prohibit guns on transit. The bill would jeopardize those contracts and the matched federal funding, Cella said.

Both St. Louis and Kansas City’s transit systems are bi-state operations governed by a federal compact that prohibits guns on public transit, and Cella said it is her understanding that that compact would supersede the bill and not apply to transit in those cities.

Cella said there is no proof that more guns make transit safer, and she said it puts staff members like bus drivers in more danger.

“What we’re saying is if we impair the ability of transit providers to deliver service by passage of CCW in transit, we’re really going to impact the state’s bottom line as well,” Cella said.