ST. LOUIS • A state constitutional amendment on the right to bear firearms does not allow nonviolent felons to carry guns, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled in a set of opinions announced Tuesday.
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What became problematic was the specific wording of the gun rights proposition, passed by 60 percent of voters in August 2014, which carved out an exclusion for “convicted violent felons.”
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If framers of Amendment 5 had intended to create a “blanket prohibition on felons in possession of firearm,” St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Robert Dierker asked, why would they reference only “convicted violent felons”?
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Had Amendment 5 intended to prohibit lawmakers from regulating nonviolent felons, it would have simply said so, [Judge Laura Denvir] Stith wrote.
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