For the week of Jan. 11, 2016
Missouri Senate Gets Back to Work
The Senate is off and running this week at the Capitol. The first of many hearings were held, and many of our key issues are already moving forward. This year, it is my hope that we are working to foster a stronger, more resilient economy. I believe together we will craft common-sense legislation that will help create jobs across all industries and build stronger communities in the Show-Me State.
To continue to advance our state forward, we need to work effectively and equally as hard to protect the rights of our citizens and push back on a federal government that overreaches its authority. That is now more evident than ever. Last week, the president announced he is issuing another executive order that is deliberately stomping on our Second Amendment rights. The president has made it clear, he cares more about political posturing than he does about the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. The fact is his executive order to tighten background checks for gun owners is hollow in nature and will not reduce crime.
The president’s order states it does not matter whether you sell your gun from a store, at a gun show or over the Internet, you must conduct background checks and be licensed. What the president does not say is that federal law already requires a license and background checks for gun dealers at stores and gun shows. His executive order does not change that.
The president’s executive order still needs to go through the rule-making process, so we will not know exactly what the official guidelines will look like yet. However, the president cannot unilaterally expand the law. Misusing his power and infringing on our Second Amendment rights goes against federal law. His order does not provide for a meaningful solution to our nation’s more pressing problems. California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington already have the stricter gun laws he is requiring; yet they have had the most recent acts of gun violence.
While the president specifically mentioned Missouri in his speech last week, he left off important details. In 2007, the Legislature repealed a 1920s statute that required sheriff’s departments to perform inquire checks before a person could receive a gun permit. This former “Jim Crow Law” left the inquiry completely up to a sheriff’s discretion. The law was repealed because it was outdated and only one county was actually following the statute correctly. Since then, Missouri has been leading many states when it comes to reporting mental health issues and other background information to the federal NICS system.
We will monitor the development of rules and guidelines according to the executive order. We will work together to protect our law-abiding citizens and make sure their constitutional rights are not weakened. We will also continue to push back against a federal government that cannot balance its own checkbook, cannot manage its own house and has an inexhaustible appetite for more power and control.
In other news, we are pleased to welcome our new staff members who are diligently working to ensure this legislative session runs as smoothly as possible.
The first addition is our new Executive Administrative Assistant, Bonnie Linhardt. Bonnie primarily works with scheduling, coordinating and organizing events and visitors for my office. Bonnie is a wife and mother of two adult children and grandmother of seven. She and her husband, Todd, live in rural Cole County, have livestock operations and raise a few row-crops. Bonnie serves as a Sunday school teacher at her church. She enjoys spending time with her grandchildren and is involved in local county fairs and the Junior Red Poll Association helping her grandchildren show cattle.
Our second addition is Amber Watson. Amber is a part-time assistant in the office whose primary job is constituent services. She refers them to the proper department and sometimes acts as a mediator between the two. She is married with two small children. Her other activities include smoking “anything animal” and hanging out with her husband on date nights, when she is not busy being super mom.
We would also like to wish Emily Lewis well, as she has left to take a position with Missouri Banker’s Association. She will most definitely be missed.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact my office. Thank you.