Missourians want stricter gun laws despite Republican efforts to loosen them, poll says

A strong majority of Missourians would support stricter gun control measures even as Missouri lawmakers look to further loosen laws around firearms, a new poll shows.

A poll released Thursday by Saint Louis University and British pollster YouGov found that respondents favor several gun control measures, with 79% supporting criminal background checks and 69% supporting a minimum purchasing age of 21 years old.

The survey of 900 likely Missouri voters was conducted between Feb. 8 and 14, and has a 3.72% margin of error. The survey asked a range of questions, including gun control issues to the approval ratings of elected officials.

The poll suggests widespread support for criminal and mental health background checks, age requirements and a waiting period, but Missouri Republicans continue to push against most gun control bills. Missouri is 38th in the country in terms of gun law strength, according to Everytown For Gun Safety.

The poll also suggests that 60% of Missourians support red flag laws, which allow a court to temporarily remove someone’s guns if they believe they are a danger to themselves or others. However, an anti-red flag bill was weighed in a Missouri Senate committee hearing last month.

The anti-red flag bill, sponsored by Sen. Bill Eigel, a Weldon Spring Republican, would prohibit any public officer or agency from confiscating any law-abiding citizen’s guns and gun accessories, and doing so would infringe on their Second Amendment rights.

The bill would also block federal funding that could be given to local agencies for enforcing such confiscation laws. This language is in response to President Joe Biden signing legislation last year that offers financial incentives to local agencies that enact red flag laws.

“I think that trying to solve the problem of violence and crime in areas of our state by infringing upon the rights of law-abiding citizens is not a good idea,” Eigel said. “It’s not going to produce the outcomes we’re looking for.”

Steve Rogers, an associate professor of political science at Saint Louis University who directed the poll, said he was surprised by the bipartisan support of the gun control questions.

At least 59% of Republican respondents support several of the gun control measures, according to the poll, with as high as 73% of Republicans surveyed supporting criminal background checks.

Rogers said even on the questions that the majority of Republicans surveyed did not support, a substantial percentage still favored laws like 72-hour waiting periods.

Rogers said one goal of the poll is to gauge what Missourians actually want, and said this poll could suggest to some lawmakers that perhaps most of their constituents would be okay with some gun control.

“So then maybe a legislator would be less fearful, for example, of maybe voting for a gun control measure,” Rogers said.

The GOP-controlled Missouri Senate on Wednesday gave initial approval to a bill that would exempt all gun and ammunition sales in Missouri from state and local sales taxes.

The poll suggests Missourians don’t want to completely ban guns because 83% of those surveyed opposed banning all handguns, excluding use by police officers, and 50% opposed banning all semi-automatic weapons.

According to the poll, 56% of respondents are somewhat or very worried about the possibility of a public school shooting in the state.

In the case of a shooting at their local public school, 38% of respondents are somewhat or very worried, according to the poll.

Rogers said sometimes people believe conditions are better locally than in terms of the state as a whole, so that could potentially explain why generally respondents were less concerned about their local school.

Rep. Ashley Aune, a Kansas City Democrat, said her constituents tell her they are concerned about school safety, and she discusses with them how guns and gun control is nuanced.

“It’s not as black and white as just saying we have to respect our Second Amendment rights. When we know that the result of that is kids dying in schools and parents feeling unsafe sending their kids to school,” Aune said.

She said they can find a compromise that does not infringe on people’s Second Amendment rights but does protect kids in schools, but they need to be able to discuss the topic instead of gun control always being a nonstarter.

Eigel said he was open to conversations about putting police officers on school grounds, which according to the poll, most respondents want, with 77% favoring the idea.

Rogers said it isn’t possible to determine whether the results of the poll indicate a shift left for Missourians, but said there were many more Democrats holding office in Missouri a few decades ago.

“Many more voters may be identifying with the Republican Party and voting Republicans into office, but they may still hold issue positions that are a little bit more moderate or liberal,” Rogers said.

Rep. Maggie Nurrenbern, a Kansas City Democrat, said that she believes many people don’t realize a permit is not required to purchase a gun anymore.

“We’re not worried about a well-regulated militia. I’m worried about here,” Nurrenbern said. “I have municipalities that are densely populated, and people are getting struck by stray bullets every day, because there are too many guns on our streets.”

The Star’s Kacen Bayless contributed to this report.

This story was originally published March 2, 2023 at 9:00 AM.