St. Louis police are contending with a factor that their counterparts in many other high-crime cities are not: exceedingly lax gun laws
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In many big cities, a fundamental element in law enforcement’s efforts to reduce shootings is to get guns off the streets and apprehend those who are unlawfully toting them around. But in St. Louis, police who pull over someone cruising around with a loaded gun or two in the car are often unable to do anything about it.
Are the young toughs of St. Louis in cahoots with lawmakers and lobbyists at the state capital in Jefferson City? No, but they might as well be. The state has exceptionally weak gun laws, a reflection of the rural, conservative nature of Missouri beyond St. Louis and Kansas City, a swath of small towns and open spaces where it doesn’t seem crazy for someone to be driving with a shotgun in his truck without a permit.
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That the law has vastly more serious implications in the urban setting of St. Louis—and that state lawmakers have not allowed the city to carve out gun-law exceptions for itself
What in the world? Is the author talking about gun crime in the city or the county? (An aside: St. Louis City isn't part of St. Louis County. It's all organized weird and you just learn to deal with it and as of such, screws up the city's crime rating.) St. Louis isn't a cow town. I lived in St. Louis City for a decade. I've lived in the county. My family is from southern Missouri. People don't “drive around with shotguns” in their trucks in the city. If they wanted to they can, because isn't a crime to open carry in Missouri because Missouri is an open carry state and most law-abiding open carriers don't fire at police while on probation, underage and under curfew like Vonderrit Myers. Police need probable cause. Is this author arguing that we go “Minority Report” and assume that the person being stopped is guilty until proven innocent? Because even in ol' “cow town St. Louis,” we hillbillies have us sum doo-process. It's amazing: people championing Terry stops had a problem with Eric Garner's run in with the law prior to his death. Crime is lower in the rural areas where people do carry shotguns in their rigs (like the town in which my family lives) and the crime rate is lower for a few reasons.
The author quotes Bill McClellan on health care (disclosure: McClellan is a friend. A policy wonk he is not) before deciding St. Louis should just move to Illinois. Yes, with Illinois high unemployment, failing infrastructure, debt, and corruption. All my Illinois friends who work in St. Louis want to move to Illinois for these reasons alone.
Good grief.
