93.9 The Eagle – The News and Talk of Columbia, MO
Legislation prohibiting the purchasing of semi-automatic and fully automatic firearms by anyone under the age of 20 has been filed again by a mid-Missouri state lawmaker.
State Rep. David Tyson Smith (D-Columbia) tells 939 the Eagle that his two-page House Bill 1701 is reasonable.
“I’m you know for people having the right to possess firearms. I think people should have the right to defend themselves. But teenagers really don’t need to be buying AR-15’s and AK-47’s,” Representative Tyson Smith says.
Representative Tyson Smith filed a similar bill last year that never received a House committee hearing. It was referred to a committee on the final day of Missouri’s 2023 session. It did come up for discussion on the Missouri House floor as an amendment.
“A lot of these horrific shootings we’ve seen in recent years … Uvalde, Texas, the high school in St. Louis, there was a shooting in Buffalo … all involved a teenager going out and buying an AR-15 style weapon and shooting up a school. So, there’s no reason for that and I think most people would agree that there’s no reason for that,” says Representative Tyson Smith.
He says several Republicans he’s spoken to have open minds about his bill and tells 939 the Eagle that he’s hopeful it will pass at some point.
