SPONSOR: Schroer
COMMITTEE ACTION: Voted "Do Pass with HCS" by the Standing Committee on General Laws by a vote of 15 to 0.
The following is a summary of the House Committee Substitute for HB 795.
This bill establishes "Blair s Law" which specifies that a person commits the crime of unlawful use of a weapon if, with criminal negligence, he or she discharges a firearm within or into the limits of any municipality. Any such person shall be guilty of a class E felony for the first offense and a class D felony for the second offense. These provisions will not apply if the firearm is discharged under the circumstances listed in the bill.
This bill is the same as HCS HB 1893 (2020).
The following is a summary of the public testimony from the committee hearing. The testimony was based on the introduced version of the bill.
PROPONENTS: Supporters say that this bill protects people. It is a common sense approach to gun ownership and saving even one life is worth it. Celebratory gunfire is frequent and problematic, but this bill shows that Missouri values life.
Testifying for the bill were Representative Schroer; Amy Fite, Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys; Molly Pellettiere; Sam Panettiere, City of Kansas City, Missouri; Irina Lipkina-Kler; South Kansas City Chamber of Commerce; Kendall Martinez-Wright; Michele Shanahan Demoss; and the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce.
OPPONENTS: Arnie C.Dienoff provided written testimony.
Written testimony has been submitted for this bill. The full written testimony can be found under Testimony on the bill page on the House website.
Statutes affected: