As a voter here in Missouri, I am writing to strongly urge you to advance Senator Eric Burlison’s Stand-Your-Ground Expansion Act (SB 666) out of your committee without any amendments, and without any further delays! The recent committee hearing on this bill was an embarrassment to our state, as hours of lies about this legislation were uttered with almost no pushback. Here are the facts about this legislation that the radical left and moderates on the right don’t want to engage with. For a long time, self-defense cases were decided by the ‘reasonable’ or ‘justifiable’ standard. What would a reasonable man do in a similar situation; what force was justifiable given those facts? The problem with this standard is that it inverted the idea of ‘innocent until proven guilty’ and, instead, forced a citizen accused of a crime to prove their innocence. This was a mistake. American jurisprudence is founded on the idea that a citizen is innocent until proven guilty in court. In every other area of the law, the government needs to prove that we are guilty of a crime in court. It should be the same thing when it comes to crimes involving self-defense cases. That’s why sixteen other states (Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and Wyoming) have eliminated their ‘reasonable person’ standard and replaced it with a ‘presumption of innocence’ which forces the state to prove their case in court. So despite the hysterics of the Transportation Committee’s hearing on this bill, this idea of granting a presumption of innocence to citizens is not a new idea that is going to lead to blood in the street. This is established jurisprudence in almost a third of America -- including ‘blue’ states like California! Your committee heard testimony that passage of this bill would make it impossible for law enforcement and prosecutors to do their jobs and investigate crimes. That’s absurd. The bill clearly states that law enforcement may use standard procedures to investigate a crime, they just can’t make an arrest until they have established probable cause that the force used was unlawful. Your committee heard testimony that establishing civil immunity was terrible, and a disruption of the tort process here in Missouri. This, also, is an absurd statement as twenty-three states (Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee West Virginia and Wisconsin) provide civil immunity during self-defense situations. Criminals should not be allowed to bankrupt a Missourian in civil court after attacking them and forcing the gun owner to defend himself. This legislation would prevent that. I understand that elements of Missouri’s law enforcement community and some prosecutors don’t like this legislation. But the sad fact is that they also opposed Constitutional Carry, Castle Doctrine Expansion, removing the duty to retreat and last year’s SAPA legislation. Clearly the leadership of these organizations and institutions have become mouthpieces for gun control organizations. Their actions are a terrible betrayal to the proud legacy of their professions. Meantime, I want to stress that passage of this legislation is a priority to me, and I want to see this committee advance it right away! The Missouri Firearms Coalition will keep be apprised of the status of this bill.

After seeing Mark and Patricia McCloskey’s lives turned upside down at the hands of a Soros-funded thuggish prosecutor in St. Louis, it’s clear that Missouri’s self-defense laws need to be overhauled. That’s why the Missouri Firearms Coalition - - along with pro-gun champions Senator Eric Burlison and Representative Jered Taylor - - has introduced legislation to protect law abiding gun owners who use justifiable force in a self-defense situation. There may have been a time when gun owners could simply trust in our Prosecuting Attorneys to always do the right thing and to pursue justice, not a personal or political agenda. But after seeing what happened to the McCloskeys, those days are gone. And that’s why, as one of your constituents, I am writing to urge you to pass this bill (S.B. 666) through your committee right away! Until we plug the holes in Missouri’s self-defense laws, any one of us could be jailed for the ‘crime’ of defending ourselves. The Missouri Firearms Coalition will keep me informed about the status of this bill.