Blunt signs conceal-carry fix, correcting 2003 error

Sheriffs can use the application fee to cover expenses of processing conceal and carry permits.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Gov. Matt Blunt on Tuesday signed a bill that fixes a constitutional flaw in Missouri's two-year old law allowing qualified residents to carry concealed weapons.

The revision, which took effect immediately, specifies that local sheriffs can use the $100 application fee to cover expenses associated with processing conceal and carry permits.

The clean-up bill was prompted by the Missouri Supreme Court's February 2004 ruling that the original statute was an unconstitutional unfunded mandate because it earmarked the fee proceeds for equipment and training and provided no money for sheriff's costs for handling applications.

The court, however, didn't prohibit sheriffs from voluntarily implementing the law without funding. To date, every sheriff in the state save those in St. Louis County and St. Louis city, whose residents overwhelmingly opposed a 1999 ballot measure to allow concealed weapons, are issuing permits to qualified applicants. Blunt said the statutory fix will leave the remaining holdouts with no legal justification to avoid participation.

"I think it will remove any excuses that anybody might have not to issue a permit," Blunt said.

State Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, said the bill will alleviate sheriffs' concerns that they might be vulnerable to legal challenges from conceal-carry opponents by issuing permits without the state providing a dedicated funding source. Crowell sponsored the bill in the upper chamber.

"Clearly we've addressed every articulated problem the Supreme Court majority expressed with the unfunded mandate issue," Crowell said. "Sheriffs just wanted the certainty that they weren't open to lawsuits."

The bill is HB 365.

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