JEFFERSON CITY — A bipartisan group in the Senate on Thursday signed off on a crime plan containing a crackdown on celebratory gunfire, one in a suite of changes that now advances to the House.
In addition to the gun restriction, the wide-ranging plan by state Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, R-Parkville, also would allow for the creation of a state Conviction Review Unit to review innocence claims and increases penalties for assault of police dogs, among other provisions.
The increased penalties for police animal assaults generated opposition from Sen. Mike Moon, R-Ash Grove, who said “I believe that we’re taking this a bit too far.â€
He said that when a Missouri resident or visitor who might not be guilty of any crime “is attacked and held by a law enforcement animal, which in many if not most cases results in injury, ... they have to rely on the courts to determine whether or not they were justified in defending themselves, I think is wrong.â€
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Under the measure, the penalty for assaulting a police animal would increase from a class C misdemeanor to a class A misdemeanor, unless the animal requires veterinary care or dies. A class C misdemeanor can be punished by up to 15 days in jail and a $700 fine; a class A misdemeanor carries a penalty of up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
The person would be guilty of a class E felony if the animal requires veterinary care and a class D felony if the animal dies. Conviction on a class E felony could mean imprisonment of up to four years; class D would mean up to seven years.
In the end, Moon joined six fellow Republicans and three Democrats in voting against the measure.
With 18 votes required to approve the bill, and only 17 Republicans voting in favor, six Democrats joined with most of the Republicans, sending the bill to the House.
The proposal targeting celebratory gunfire, called “Blair’s Law,†is named after 11-year-old Blair Shanahan, who died in 2011 from a stray bullet during a backyard barbecue in Kansas City.
The practice of randomly shooting bullets into the air also is common in ºüÀêÊÓƵ, where at least four people were injured in 2022 when hundreds of rounds flew into the air on Jan. 1, according to police records.
During a Senate committee hearing this year, Jacqueline Bardgett, a lobbyist for the City of ºüÀêÊÓƵ, said police counted more than 500 shots fired into the air in the early hours of Jan. 1 this year.
The measure declares a person commits the offense of unlawful discharge of a firearm “if he or she recklessly discharges a firearm within or into the limits of any municipality.â€
There are numerous exceptions, such as use of firearms at shooting ranges or if the firearm is used in self-defense.
A person’s first offense for unlawful discharge of a firearm would be a class A misdemeanor. The second offense would be a class E felony, and subsequent offenses would be a class D felony.
Senators also voted to raise penalties for unlawful possession of a firearm.
Under the measure, the penalty for unlawful possession of a firearm would increase from a class D felony to a class C felony.
If the person has already been convicted of a dangerous felony under current law, unlawful possession would be a class C felony. That would increase to a class D felony under the measure.
The legislation is Sena