ST. LOUIS—A board bill that would ban the open carrying of firearms without a valid concealed carry permit in the city of St. Louis advanced out of an aldermanic committee Thursday and heads for a second reading Friday at the Board of Aldermen.

What You Need To Know

  • Violating the ordinance would be punishable up to $500 and 30 days in jail

  • It passed by a unanimous vote

  • The board bill was originally introduced in May and last month

  • St. Louis Police Chief Robert Tracy said that if the bill becomes law, there will need to be a public education component and increased police training

Board Bill 29, originally sponsored by Alderwoman Cara Spencer, establishes a municipal ordinance punishable by up to a $500 fine and 30 days in jail if a person is found to be openly displaying a firearm without a valid permit.

It passed by a unanimous vote out of the Board’s Public Safety Committee Thursday afternoon.

“It is not uncommon to see somebody with a semiautomatic weapon in the neighborhood that I live in and it’s truly terrifying to know that we can do nothing about it,” Spencer said, noting she’d also seen firearms downtown this week during July 4th events. 

In 2014, state lawmakers passed legislation that allowed for open carry without a permit, superseding an existing city law that had been on the books since 1970.

The state law did not explicitly limit a city’s ability to pass new legislation requiring those who want to carry firearms openly from requiring a permit.

The board bill was originally introduced in May and last month, during an at times tense news conference, Spencer and Board President Megan Green rebutted eachother over facets of the bill. Spencer pointed to a Kansas City ordinance as a model, while Green said the Kansas City law isn’t enforced there due to potential legal liability and public safety concerns.

After a month of working through legal issues, the version passed out of committee would have juvenile cases–you’d have to be 19 to have a concealed carry permit–handled through the juvenile court system. In addition to setting the ceiling on a $500 fine, the revised bill got rid of a provision that allows police to confiscate the weapon upon conviction.

Committee Chair Alderman Bret Narayan said the changes give the bill “a fighting chance” in the event it becomes law and faces a legal challenge. 

While the revised bill includes provisions that promise to track enforcement relative to race and gender, Inez Bordeaux, a community activist who works for ArchCity Defenders, voiced concern that enforcement will still be disproportionate and that it sets up a potential scenario where an officer could end up in a violent encounter if that officer fears for their life.

“SLMPD is going to enforce this law if you all pass it in two places. One predominantly black neighborhoods where black people are already being surveilled and overpoliced and harassed,” she said. “The other place it’s gonna be enacted is downtown. This part of the bill is pandering to a very specific demographic that only comes in to downtown for you know Cardinals games and Blues games and don’t otherwise cross the bridge.”

While she said she wants gun violence to go away in the city, she said the process surrounding the board bill lacked public engagement, and that city lawmakers have “skipped steps” when it comes to addressing how poverty contributes to criminal activity.

St. Louis Police Chief Robert Tracy said during the hearing that if the bill becomes law, there will need to be a public education component and increased police training.