{"id":111265,"date":"2025-07-19T10:56:35","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T15:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=111265"},"modified":"2025-07-19T10:56:35","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T15:56:35","slug":"111265","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=111265","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

STL judge strikes law requiring guns in parked cars to be locked away<\/a><\/p>\n

ST. LOUIS \u2014 A St. Louis judge\u00a0took down a local law<\/a>\u00a0that required drivers to store firearms in lockboxes or other secured containers while leaving them unattended in vehicles.<\/p>\n

The July 15 ruling states that a\u00a02017 ordinance<\/a>\u00a0conflicts with a Missouri law that takes away local governments\u2019 ability to regulate firearms.<\/p>\n

Circuit Judge Joseph P. Whyte ruled that since the measure conflicts with state gun laws, it\u00a0 violates the\u00a0Missouri Constitution\u2019s preemption clause<\/a>, which prohibits local governments from enacting gun regulations that go beyond state law.<\/p>\n

The preemption states:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe general assembly hereby occupies and preempts the entire field of legislation touching in any way firearms, components, ammunition and supplies to the complete exclusion of any order, ordinance or regulation by any political subdivision of this state.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The ordinance, introduced by former Alderwoman Lyda Krewson and approved unanimously by the\u00a0Board of Aldermen<\/a>, aimed to curb gun thefts from vehicles, which city officials say have surged in recent years and often lead to firearms being used in violent crimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cRequiring reasonable measures to secure firearms left in unattended vehicles will reduce gun thefts, protect the property of the City\u2019s law-abiding citizens, and prevent stolen guns from falling into the hands of criminals,\u201d aldermen said in the ordinance.<\/p>\n

Under the law, gun owners who left firearms unsecured in vehicles could face fines of up to $500 and incarcerations of up to 90 days.<\/p>\n

But Attorney General Bailey framed the ordinance as an unconstitutional infringement on Missourians\u2019 Second Amendment rights.<\/p>\n

In a gun-related\u00a0lawsuit\u00a0<\/a>in February 2023, Bailey said, \u201cI have long held that the Constitution was meant to be a floor, not a ceiling, and the Second Amendment is the amendment that makes all of the others possible.<\/p>\n

The judge\u2019s ruling leans heavily on\u00a0Missouri Revised Statutes Section 21.750<\/a>, which expressly prohibits cities and counties from adopting any ordinance or regulation related to the possession, transfer or storage of firearms beyond what state law allows.<\/p>\n

Supporters of the ordinance had argued that the measure was tailored not to restrict gun ownership and pointed to data from the\u00a0St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department<\/a>\u00a0showing more than\u00a01200 guns stolen from vehicles in 2023<\/a>, a 27% increase over the previous year.<\/p>\n

It is still uncertain whether the city plans to appeal the ruling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STL judge strikes law requiring guns in parked cars to be locked away ST. LOUIS \u2014 A St. Louis judge\u00a0took down a local law\u00a0that required drivers to store firearms in lockboxes or other secured containers while leaving them unattended in vehicles. The July 15 ruling states that a\u00a02017 ordinance\u00a0conflicts with a Missouri law that takes … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,50,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-courts","category-goobermint","category-rkba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=111265"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111266,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111265\/revisions\/111266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=111265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=111265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=111265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}