The Republican-led Missouri legislature nixed two gun-related bills from this year’s agenda after a shooting at a Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl rally.
One bill, which passed the Missouri House last session but failed in the Senate, would allow permit holders to carry concealed firearms on forms of public transportation like buses, in addition to churches. The other bill would create tax exemptions for guns.
“While I do think both proposals are worthy of debate, they have no path to becoming law at this point,” GOP House Majority Leader Jonathan Patterson said in a statement to the Kansas City Star on Friday. “Now is not the appropriate time to be taking up those bills and therefore they will not be brought up this session.”
Patterson said he had conversations with the sponsors of the bill, state Rep. Adam Schnelting, who introduced HB 1708, and state Rep. Bishop Davidson, who introduced HB 2291, about “what was in the best interest of” lawmakers.
“As legislators, we should of course look at public policies that allowed the shooting to happen. That includes guns,” Patterson said.
A shooting broke out Wednesday as people gathered for the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl celebration in front of the city’s Union Station. On Friday, police said two juveniles were charged in connection to the shooting that left one woman dead and over two dozen people with gunshot wounds.
The shooting renewed calls for stricter gun regulation, but chances are slim of legislation passing through Republican leaders — who control the state legislature and all statewide offices. Several lawmakers and city officials were in attendance when the shooting broke out.
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Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, who was at the Chiefs celebration when the shooting happened, thanked Kansas police and first responders while calling for further action.
“We shouldn’t have to live like this. We need common sense gun safety laws & we need them now. It’s not about politics, it’s about the kind of world we want for our kids,” Rizzo wrote on X on Wednesday.