ST. LOUIS — Aldermen are set Thursday to take initial votes on a plan to ban the open carry of firearms in the city.
The new rule would be unenforceable under current state law. The city can only restrict open carry to adults with concealed-carry permits, as it did this summer.
But the bill could pave the way for a ban in the future. And it would send a message to Republican lawmakers in Jefferson City who have spent years loosening gun laws despite rising rates of gun violence in the state’s major cities, said sponsoring Alderman Rasheen Aldridge, of Downtown.
“We’re telling Jeff City that we live here. We understand the issues more than they do,†he said.
Aldridge, a Democrat, said the bill could also prove proactive if voters approve proposed ballot initiatives giving cities more power to regulate guns.
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Aldermanic President Megan Green, who is co-sponsoring the legislation, has said the bill could give supporters something to rally behind.
State lawmakers did largely the same thing with abortion restrictions as they waited for the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision.
“We’re taking a page out of the GOP playbook,†Aldridge said.