ST. LOUIS–The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Governor Mike Parson were in St. Louis Tuesday afternoon to announce support for a set of statewide proposals to address a crime problem that the Chamber says has reached a crisis stage.

“Crime is hurting Missouri’s economy. It’s impacting businesses large and small in communities of all sizes. It’s hurting our ability to attract business investment. In some cases, crime is driving jobs out of the state,” said Daniel P. Mehan, president and CEO of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry in a news release “Businesses are united. This is a crisis that must be addressed now. We know that many problems need to be handled locally, but statewide policy must be deployed as well.” 

Parson and Chamber leaders rolled out a report with information from a 2021 survey of more than 600 CEOs and business leaders in Missouri.

“Nearly three quarters of Missouri business leaders see crime negatively impacting the state’s economy. Concern among St. Louis business leaders hit a remarkable 80 percent,” the Safer Missouri Stronger Missouri report said.

Among the report’s recommendations:

  • Hiring more officers

  • Hot spot policing

  • Increased funding for technology to support policing

  • Addressing substance abuse and mental health

  • Reducing recidivism

The report also notes policy changes in recent years, including a Missouri Supreme Court ruling that effectively ended the use of red light cameras in major parts of the state, as well as the Second Amendment Preservation Act or SAPA, the 2021 bill that in practice appears to void federal gun laws and allows Missourians to sue state and local law enforcement agencies if they believe their Second Amendment rights have been violated. Citing SAPA, several local agencies have stopped working with federal task forces. The U.S. Department of Justice has filed suit in the Western District of Missouri over the law and the city of St. Louis, St. Louis County and Jackson County are suing the state over the bill in a case that was sent back to Cole County Circuit Court.

“The state should consider a solution that continues to protect second amendment rights, as prioritized by Missouri’s elected leaders, while ensuring its law enforcement officials have all tools available to tackle violent crime,” the report says. 

“Do we want to get rid of it? No. Would we like to see these uncertainties addressed in trying to make sure that people in law enforcement can communicate with eachother? Nobody intended for them not to be able to so we’d love to see that try and get corrected. It’s a tough issue because people like their gun rights and so we’re not about to try to throw the act out, not at all, we’re not sure what the approach should be,” said Dan Mehan, President and CEO, Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry told Spectrum News.

Parson did not commit to support changes to SAPA but said he supported taking guns out of the hands of violent people who shouldn’t have them.

“Violent criminals need to come off the streets…repeat offenders that are involved in crime need to come off the street and the punishment needs to be put on them for what they’ve done I think that’s very important that we realize that,” said Parson.

State Sen. Brian Williams, a St. Louis Democrat who opposed the original bill, said he was optimistic after talking to members of both parties, that some of the concerns could be addressed in Jefferson City.

“We should be providing tools for law enforcement to be successful, not making their jobs harder and the Second Amendment Preservation Act did everything that we do not want to happen in our state and in our community by allowing people to keep guns that shouldn’t have them and also making law enforcement’s job a lot more difficult when we should be providing them tools to be successful,” he said.

"Mayor Jones believes improving public safety is an all-hands-on-deck situation and is ready to work with anyone to make our neighborhoods safer. From utilizing data-driven deployment strategies to prevent violent crime to supporting police officers with social workers through the City’s successful Cops & Clinicians program, the administration is already incorporating many of the report’s ideas,” a spokesman for St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones said in a statement. “Mayor Jones is working to expand Community Violence Intervention programs that will help address mental health and substance abuse issues, and agrees that rebuilding trust between community and police is essential to making our city safer across zip codes,” Public Information Officer Nick Dunne said.