Springfield Mayor Ken McClure signed onto a letter dated November 15 to incoming Governor-elect Mike Kehoe, he joined the mayors of St. Louis, Kansas City and Columbia in asking the Governor-elect to make youth gun violence a priority in the next legislative year.
The letter specifically calls for “changing Missouri’s laws to establish a prohibition of juveniles possessing a handgun mirroring federal law.”
The state has consistently pushed back against federal gun regulations, including a law barring enforcement of federal gun laws, which was tossed out by courts earlier this year.
The letter also asks for more transparency and public notice when youth bring weapons to school. The letter states that in a conversation between the mayors “examples surfaced where a handgun had been removed from a school by law enforcement with no additional community notice required.”
The letter also cites Springfield crime statistics. It states that in 2023 SPD investigated 133 shootings. 21 of those involved suspects age18 and under, almost half involved suspects 24 and younger.
Mayor McClure represents a Springfield City Council that voted to make these issues a legislative priority in the year ahead.
Youth gun violence has been top-of-mind for many Missourians.
As reported by St. Louis Public radio, a study by Washington University and the University of Missouri found a surge in youth related gun injuries in the state post-2020. Per STLPR’s reporting “researchers found the average number of people 19 and under treated for gunshot wounds in hospital's emergency department rose by more than 50 percent in the first two years of the pandemic.”
Governor-elect Kehoe campaigned on, among other issues, supporting gun rights.