St. Louis American:

Sgt. Heather Taylor, a homicide detective in St. Louis and leader of the city’s police association for black officers, considers herself well-informed on crime-related issues. But she hadn’t heard about House Bill 1936 – the “guns everywhere” bill – which would allow concealed guns into places that are currently designated gun-free zones, including churches, college campuses, bars and government buildings.

“What?!” said Taylor, president of the Ethical Society of Police. “You are talking about introducing guns in places where they shouldn’t be. You will see an increase in gun violence in public places.”

Despite the renewed focus on gun laws around the country, many people have not heard about this bill. Even people who are tracking it don’t understand the extent of the legislation.

The EYE asked the bill’s sponsor state Rep. Jered Taylor (R-Nixa) to explain what changes HB 1936 would bring. He said if the bill passes “law-abiding citizens” would be able to conceal carry with or without a permit into the following 10 locations: churches, amusement parks, stadiums, hospitals, casinos, bars, child care facilities, polling locations, local government buildings and state government buildings. The law also lists private schools. These locations were previously considered gun-free zones for civilian concealed carry.

Individuals would have to have a concealed carry weapons (CCW) permit in order to carry into college campuses and the Capitol, Taylor said. And colleges and other institutions don’t have a choice in the matter. The bill states that state, political subdivisions and public institutions of higher learning cannot impose any policies or contractual requirements that would prohibit employees or students from carrying concealed firearms.

“Again I want to reiterate, the locations that are private property locations would have the ability to choose whether or not to allow guns on their property,” Taylor told The St. Louis American. “If they do not want weapons in their establishment, they would simply post a sign, exactly what all other private property owners have to do under current statute.”

Is it dead?

Speaker of the House Todd Richardson (R-Poplar Bluff) has not yet put the bill on the legislative calendar. With the legislative session ending on Friday, May 18, some believe that the bill is dead. The full House would have to perfect the bill, have a third reading and then take a final vote to pass it. Then it would have to pass in the Senate, which is where similar legislation stalled last year.

“It wouldn’t have enough time to even make it through the House at this point,” said state Rep. Michael Butler (D-St. Louis). “It is important to note that the Speaker of the House has held on to the bill and not put it on the calendar since March 29.”

It’s too bad for Missouri that this won’t pass this year, and maybe not ever.  I was going to make a prediction for the sake of comparison with Sgt. Taylor’s prediction.  She said that “You will see an increase in gun violence in public places.”  She further said that “people pushing legislation to make gun laws even more lax and permissive are people who don’t have black and brown kids, relatives or family or haven’t been affected by gun violence at all.”

I was going to predict that the main increase in violence would have been innocent armed men and women (of all skin colors) shooting back at mainly black and brown kids who were trying to perpetrate violence on innocent folk.  Since statistics and data don’t lie.

The “Ethical Society of Police.”  Now isn’t that a hoot.