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Swingle happy with changes to Mo. law barring felons from having gunsSaturday, August 30, 2008
An amendment to Missouri's law preventing felons from possessing firearms took effect Thursday. The revised law closed several loopholes that previously made it a weak statute, Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said. Swingle said he favored the changes to the law because the previous wording created circumstances that allowed all but the "most unlucky" of offenders to avoid prosecution. Now, the law more closely resembles the federal statute, meaning the only qualifications to charge someone with being a felon in possession of a firearm are showing they've been convicted of a felony and possess a firearm, Swingle said. Swingle penned several letters to legislators asking for the changes, he said. The first change made in the law involved eliminating the word "concealable," meaning any type of gun capable of lethal use would qualify under the new statute, making it nearly identical to the federal law governing such offenses. Second, the law was expanded to include anyone convicted of a felony in Missouri or in another state that recognizes what would be a felony in Missouri. Previously, the law said the offender must have a prior conviction for a "dangerous felony," defined by Missouri law, which only included certain crimes. Also, a requirement that the felony be within five years of the firearm possession was removed from the new statute. "I agree we must have better protections in place to prevent dangerous felons from falling through the cracks when it comes to firearm possessions," wrote Sen. Michael R. Gibbons in a Sept. 20 letter to Swingle. In the letter, Gibbons notified Swingle of his plans to examine the current felon in possession of a firearm law and prepare to "offer better protections" by December 2007. bdicosmo@semissourian.com 335-6611, extension 245 Comments  The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, use the exclamation point icon beside the comment to send a report to the webmaster.
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117
It's kind of funny how Morley is all about some gun law
but he lets sexual comments at the work place go and
tells the people involved they have no case. I think
Morley needs to be replaced with someone that has new and fresh ideas.
Red Rhino
I agree Missouri should reserve its prison space for people deserving of it , I also agree with Tom Grey that it is another law to make Mo. appear tough on crime.
Though like some other laws it seems kind of redundant since as was mentioned the federal statue is not often enforced .
Last but not least I agree with Black Shadow , as a Cape resident for 17 yrs I've noticed Mr Swingle seems always open to more restrictive gun control laws.
Tom_Grey,
Agreed, we need Missouri prison cells for individuals other than someone who was convicted of a felony twenty or thirty years ago and has lived a productive life since that time and gets caught with a shotgun taking his kid quail hunting.
So, there is a federal statute that clearly makes this a crime and it is routinely used to jail people who break the law (judging by the number of times it is reported in this paper). Now we have a state law to do the same thing. Why not let one set of tax dollars address the crime rather than doubling up on this. This strikes me as more passing laws to make people think that the politicians are "getting tough on crime" when things were plenty tough already.
Morley Swingle has never met a gun control law that he did not like unless it gave gun owners more rights, so his joy at more restrictive gun laws is not surprising.
mussmuggins,
You are correct. However while the Missouri law may well be redundant, the likelihood of someone being caught with a firearm by a Federal Agent is pretty low as there just are not that many. Usually these type of cases are referred to BATFE when someone is arrested on another charge and are found to be in possession of a firearm. BATFE often will not refer a case for prosecution on a stand alone firearms charge absent aggravating circumstances and even if they do it still depends on the Federal Prosecutor who may not have the time to pursue it.
I see the significance of this statute as being that even if an individual does manage to have their federal firearms rights restored if/when congress begins to fund these types of investigations through BATFE, an individual will still be subject to Missouri State laws which prohibit possession. Contrary to popular opinion Federal Law does not always trump State Law.
With this statute in place it appears as though a Missourian's only available avenue to regain the right to possess a firearm is through a Gubernatorial Pardon/Executive Clemency which as mentioned are very few and far between.
Rockman54,
Philosophically I agree with you as many previously convicted felons do not present an increased risk to public safety. Crimes such as Child Support, Passing Bad Checks, Forgery, Driving While Revoked (Without Alcohol/Drug involvement) etc. do not involve misuse of firearms nor do they demonstrate any propensity to violence or impairment. I disagree that it has anything to do with the Department of Corrections as there is a legal definition of Dangerous Felonies in Missouri statutes which guides policies of DOC.
Executive Clemency is truly a “hit or miss” proposition because even if Probation and Parole, which does all Executive Clemency Reports may recommend for and the Governor will disagree. It all depends on who is in office, some grant them and some don’t.
Many states have a mechanism in place whereby a previously convicted felon can petition the sentencing court to reinstate their rights to own firearms and these procedures are also recognized by the BATFE if they restore all, rather than limited rights to possess.
With the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, better known as the 1968 Gun Control Act, Missouri’s recent revision is almost a moot point because no matter what the Missouri laws said, it was still a federal felony for any previously convicted felon to possess any type of firearm. Their only option was a Pardon/Executive Clemency or “Restoration of Firearms and Explosives Rights” through the BATFE. Since BATFE has not been funded for these types of investigations for years that really wasn’t much of an option. So while it might not have been a violation of Missouri Statutes, it was still a Federal Felony.
I do believe that once a non violent offender has “paid their debt to society” and with the passage of a reasonable time there should be a mechanism in place to review all of the salient factors and determine if his or her continued inability to legally own firearms is justified.
A "Felon in Possession of a firearm" is a huge Federal violation, no matter what state law says. Even possession of ammunition under the Federal law carries the same penalty.
These broad laws make everyone a "dangerous" felon just by the fact that they were convicted of a felony.
The real reason I believe prosecuters & LEO's don't want "any" felons in possession of firearms is the experience many had with the dept. of corrections , which makes no distinction with "dangerous" felon or not.
Many prior offenders who are not dangerous , due to the nature of their crime or having turned their life around are left with no avenue with which to gain rights to possess firearms again .
There is executive clemency which is rarely granted , I believe provisions should be made to examine each individual case 5, 10 or a certain number of years down the road along with the severity of the persons crime to determine whether or not they deserve to have their firearms rights restored.
Of the new Missouri laws that went into effect on August 28th was one that allows Missouri residents to own silencers for weapons. It flew completely under the radar in a bill adressing outdoor shooting ranges and sound control. To own a silencer, a resident must first obtain a Federal Curio & Relics firearms license. You can buy a silencer from a Class 3 firearms dealer in Sikeston.