Swingle happy with changes to Mo. law barring felons from having guns

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

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