Missouri politicians disagree on how to curtail mass shootings

Missouri Democrats aren't talking about guns

By Kyle Brown and Madeline McKernan

Attitudes toward gun legislation are more polarized now than they have been at any point since 2000. According to a Pew Research Center poll, 76 percent of Republicans say it more important to protect the right to own guns than it is to control gun ownership. That’s compared to only 19 percent of Democrats.

Even though mass shooting events have become a regular part of American life, Democrats and Republicans butt heads on how to make them stop. The candidates in Missouri’s 47th House District in this year’s midterm serve as a microcosm for this national trend.

<<<AUDIO: Missouri Democrats aren't talking about guns

Adrian Plank ran as a Democrat in Missouri’s 47th House District this year. His platform largely focused on campaign finance and health care reforms. But gun legislation was one issue he rarely touched leading up to his defeat.

Democrat Adrian Plank ran against incumbent state Rep. Chuck Basye, R-Rocheport, in the 2018 midterm. He believes the Missouri legislature needs to take action to prevent firearms from falling into the wrong hands.

“Well if you look at the polls, most of the people understand that we need some type of intelligent legislation that will curb the unnecessary deaths of our school kids and and things of that nature,” Plank said. “So there are common-sense legislation closing loopholes that are allow people to buy guns without being able to track them.”

Plank said most people he talks to about gun safety measures agree with his ideas. And according to Pew Research Center statistics, he’s right. A survey published in October showed an overwhelming majority of the U.S. population supported legislation requiring background checks at gun shows and banning assault-style weapons, policies Plank recommends.

But among Republicans, support for those measures trends much lower.

Basye is no exception. For one, he doesn’t believe there should be restrictions on access to semi-automatic firearms. He said the arguments around banning those guns are based on misconceptions about rifles like the AR-15.

“They like to say those are weapons of war or AR means assault rifle — it doesn't,” Basye said. “AR was the original manufacturer that weapon: ArmaLite. So they're not weapons of war. I was in the Marines; a weapon of war is an automatic weapon … so a semi-automatic firearm is not a weapon of war. I’ll tell you that right now.”

Still, several mass shootings over the years have been carried out using semi-automatic rifles. Most recently, a gunman used an AR-15 to kill 11 people Oct. 27 at Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. The mass shootings in Las Vegas; Sutherland Springs, Texas; and Parkland, Florida all involved AR-15 rifles.

Plank and Basye don’t see eye to eye on how to prevent gunmen from attacking schoolchildren, either. Basye wants to see Missouri enact legislation that would declassify schools as gun-free zones. That way, he said, teachers will be free to arm themselves for self-defense.

“There's the crooks the criminals that choose to break laws that exist now — they don't care about gun-free zones,” Basye said. “And all the stats show that many or most of these mass shootings as they described them happen in gun free-zones, so it seems like a law abiding citizen should be able to protect themselves and have a firearm with them if they so choose.”

Plank said adding more guns to the equation would only make a bigger mess.

“You don't want to throw a bunch of more bullets by adding more guns to the school flying around in your school,” Plank said.

One thing both candidates stressed, however, was that proper training was crucial before letting anyone handle a gun.

“I would not recommend anybody using a firearm until they have been properly trained on all the safety aspects of any weapon,” Basye said.