Restricting conceal, carry on guns makes cities like KC less safe

Tragedy follows anti-gun mayors. Their arguments against law-abiding citizens’ Second Amendment rights recite an ideological mantra that if any law protecting law-abiding citizens’ constitutional rights is passed, then “their” cities will be awash in armed criminals and murdered victims — as if they aren’t already.

In his June 2 interview with KMBZ-AM, Mayor Sly James displayed his policy affinity with Chicago’s Mayor Rahm Emanuel, saying “This whole thing of just the proliferation of handguns on city streets with the blessing of our legislature is representative of a tone deafness that needs to be corrected.”

Given the Missouri legislature overwhelmingly voted to pass SB 656, Mayor James is the one tone deaf. The tragedy of anti-gun dogma is it perversely strengthens crime by making law-abiding citizens defenseless.

Criminals support anti-gun mayors — they prefer unarmed victims. Anti-gun mayors hurt our most fragile citizens: a single mother working double shifts, trying to safely raise her children in a bad environment and an elderly widow trying to maintain her dignity and nest egg in a former union neighborhood now blighted with rotting drug houses.

FBI Director James Comey said “parents are afraid to let their kids play outside…street corners are becoming a war zone.” This against a backdrop of police caution in responding to 911 calls — many don’t trust their mayors to have their backs.

Those at greatest risk know their plight better than an ideologically driven, anti-gun mayor. They can’t take days off work for courses and shuffling paperwork between the sheriff and the department of motor vehicles. The hundreds of dollars in cost makes it out of the question for our communities’ vulnerable citizens, who most need and have constitutional carry rights on a bleak edge.

Detroit’s Police Chief James Craig has had enough of this anti-gun elitism. He wants what works in deterring crime: “If more citizens were armed, criminals would think twice about attacking them.”

Washington, D.C.,’s Police Chief Cathy Lanier advises: “If you’re in a position to try and take the gunman down, to take the gunman out, it’s the best option for saving lives before police can get there.”

The police physically cannot arrive in time to stop a criminal’s attack. People need to save themselves.

Criminals do not obey gun laws, but they do understand the risk of attacking an armed citizen. Constitutional carry is a necessary deterrent and a constitutional right. Criminals welcome Kansas City’s Mayor Sly James’ and St. Louis’ Mayor Francis Slay’s positions opposing law-abiding citizens’ Second Amendment right to constitutional carry.

But Missouri’s legislature voted its constituents’ will; SB656 passed in a landslide. Criminals now hope Gov. Nixon will veto it for their safety. Vetoing Second Amendment rights does not make cities safer — it makes criminals safer. Anti-gun Is pro crime.

This story was originally published June 12, 2016 at 3:00 PM with the headline "Restricting conceal, carry on guns makes cities like KC less safe."