Judge rules for St. Louis County in concealed gun case

The Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- St. Louis County does not have to issue concealed gun permits to its residents, because a judge has ruled that doing so would impose an unconstitutional cost on local government.

St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley, who went to court to avoid implementing the state's new concealed guns law, called the court ruling a significant victory. It upholds the county's current practice of refusing to issue permits.

"We just do not want it in our community," Dooley said Tuesday.

St. Louis County, home to nearly one out of every five Missourians, is the largest county in the state.

It filed suit following a separate Feb. 26 ruling from the Missouri Supreme Court, which upheld the legislature's right to legalize concealed guns but found the law's funding mechanism could be illegal in counties that can show unfunded, state-imposed costs to implement the law.

Only Jackson County, St. Louis County and the city of St. Louis have not accepted concealed-gun permit applications. Jackson County was spared from doing so by the Supreme Court ruling; St. Louis city has simply refused to issue permits.

Cole County Circuit Judge Thomas Brown ruled on St. Louis County's case Friday.

Attorney General Jay Nixon, whose office defended the law, said Tuesday that he was still considering whether to appeal.

The state law -- adopted when legislators overrode Gov. Bob Holden's veto in September 2003 -- allows most Missourians age 23 and older to receive concealed weapons permits from their county sheriffs after passing criminal background checks, a firearms training course and paying a fee.

The fee has been the target of the legal challenges.

The Supreme Court said the law does not allow the fee to cover anything other than equipment and training costs. That prevents it from being used to pay personnel or to cover the $38 cost of getting a fingerprint background check from the FBI and the state Highway Patrol. By requiring new duties without supplying money, the state had imposed an illegal unfunded mandate under the state constitution, the Supreme Court ruled in February.

But the Supreme Court said the unfunded costs had to be proven in each county for it to be exempted from enforcing the law. Brown's ruling confirmed those costs existed in St. Louis County. Most sheriffs have issued permits while finding ways to reduce their costs, such as requiring applicants to pay the Highway Patrol directly for the fingerprint background check.

Despite Nixon's urging, the Legislature failed to pass a bill earlier this year that would have clarified how the fees could be used. Holden said he also would have vetoed that bill.

"Because of that inaction, we will continue having a patchwork of places in the state of Missouri where carry-and-conceal is administered," Nixon said Tuesday.

The Legislature enacted the concealed weapons law after statewide voters narrowly defeated a similar proposal in an April 1999 ballot measure. Although rural areas voted for the measure, St. Louis County and city residents voted against it -- helping ensure its statewide defeat.

"St. Louis County is saying we're not taking taxpayer money and using it toward a law that the county had overwhelmingly defeated," Dooley said Tuesday.

The court ruling applies only to St. Louis County residents seeking concealed gun permits. Residents receiving permits from other counties still will be able to carry their concealed guns in St. Louis County, except in places where they are specifically prohibited.

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Associated Press newswoman Betsy Taylor contributed to this report from St. Louis.