Missouri House Republicans spoke to reporters and fielded questions after the House wrapped up work for the week.
Tag: Sherri Gallick
VIDEO: Bills would require Cardiac Emergency Response Plans in Schools
Representative Sherri Gallick (R-Belton) spoke to members of the media this morning about House Bill 232, her proposal to require public schools to have plans for personnel to respond to cardiac arrest incidents. Also speaking were Senators Tracy McCreery (D-St. Louis County) and Kurtis Gregory (R-Marshall), who have sponsored the same measure in their chamber.
Video Credit: Missouri Senate Communications
‘Law’ at last: After 13 years, Blair’s Law, criminalizing ‘celebratory’ gunfire, is signed
July 4 was the 13 year anniversary of the death of 11 year-old Blair Shanahan Lane. Five days later legislation criminalizing “celebratory gunfire,” such as what ended her life, was signed into law.
That signing was the culmination of 13 years of work by a determined mother who responded to the senseless death of a daughter by refusing to give up.
“It’s just what got me out of bed … knowing I could make something happen,” Michele Shanahan DeMoss said after the law bearing her daughter’s name was at long last signed into effect.
Up to one moment on Independence Day, 2011, Blair, Michele, and the rest of the family were celebrating the holiday and all was normal. The next moment, Blair was suddenly laying on the ground, and what Michele had known as “normal” was ended.
Blair had been struck by one of many bullets fired carelessly into the air by a person at a party more than half a mile away. She died the next day.
The man who fired that gun served 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter. There was no state law that addresses what is often called “celebratory gunfire,” until Tuesday when Governor Mike Parson (R) signed Senate Bill 754, which includes “Blair’s Law.”
Blair’s Law makes the unlawful discharge of a firearm within or into the city limits of a community a class A misdemeanor for a first offense, a class E felony for a second offense, and a class D felony for subsequent instances.
It is a change that has received broad, growing, and consistently bipartisan support every year it was proposed. Representative Mark Sharp (D-Kansas City) joined five years ago the list of lawmakers to sponsor it in the House. He said to see it finally signed is a huge relief.
“I had a good chance to see other folks lead the way and lead the charge on Blair’s Law and I picked up where they left off,” Sharp said Tuesday.
Also sponsoring Blair’s Law this year is Representative Sherri Gallick (R-Belton), who was inspired by Michele after meeting her while knocking doors during Gallick’s run for office.
“I am extremely happy for Michele. She did this for Blair to save lives and bring more awareness,” Gallick said.
This year’s version of Blair’s Law was the second to reach the desk of Governor Parson. He vetoed last year’s version, siting objections not with it, but with other provisions within the same bill. Before signing SB 745 yesterday he addressed that action.
“I’m sure they were disappointed,” Parson said regarding last year’s veto. “I thank you for staying the course to do what is right because you’re going to help somebody else out, and at the end of the day and that’s what we’re all supposed to be doing … and I can tell you I will be very proud to sign this on your behalf today.”
When it was vetoed last year, Sharp and other legislators who had worked on it immediately assured DeMoss that it would be a priority in this year’s session. DeMoss never lost hope and never criticized those involved in the process.
As she, Sharp, and others have observed often, each year that the bill didn’t pass was another year that it was refiled, and each time the attention it received grew. Supporters hope that growing publicity discouraged at least some incidents of celebratory gunfire.
Sharp said in his district and others in the state, however, incidents are still occurring.
Gallick agreed, “Gun ownership is a responsibility. Guns are not toys and they should not be used recklessly to celebrate. We now have stricter penalties.”
The Kansas City Police Department said that during last week’s Independence Day holiday period of 6 p.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. the next morning, there occurred one casualty incident, four aggravated assaults, and three incidents of property damage, all of which were believed to be related to celebratory gunfire or possibly fireworks. The Department’s Shot Spotter technology, during that period, detected 280 rounds of gunfire within the Kansas City limits. Another 110 reports of shots fired were called in to the Department and 911 dispatchers.
DeMoss said Tuesday that she is not done. She has always felt called to her advocacy, and she does not know where that will lead her next, but she feels sure something is coming.
“I need to get through today and the rest of this week, and maybe the rest of this month,” DeMoss said. “I know that [what’s next] will reveal itself to me. For 13 years it’s got me out of bed so there is something that’s next and I am confident in that.”
During the past thirteen years DeMoss has often said that she talks to Blair, and feels Blair with her, especially as she lobbied for this law. She felt her again on the day of the signing. She noticed something that frequent Capitol goers will recognize: décor in the stairwells with an “M” for Missouri alternating with a Hawthorn blossom, the result of which looks very much like the word “Mom.”
‘Blair’s Law’ Passed Again, Sponsors Confident it will Become Law
A mother’s nearly 13 year quest for justice for her daughter might have finally reached its end, with one of the bills passed at the end of this year’s regular legislative session.
On July 4, 2011, 11 year-old Blair Shanahan Lane was struck by a bullet fired carelessly into the air by a person more than half a mile away. Blair died the next day. The man who fired that gun served 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter. There is no state law that addresses what is often called “celebratory gunfire.” Every legislative session since her daughter’s death, Michele Shanahan DeMoss has come to Jefferson City in an effort to change that.
On the final day of the 2024 session the legislature gave final passage to a bill that included Blair’s Law, to criminalize the careless discharge of a firearm in or into the limits of a municipality.
“I woke up this morning and I said, ‘This is the day. Let’s do it,’ and I just felt, without any hesitation, that it would happen,” Shanahan DeMoss said of that morning, and how she felt before heading to the Capitol. She was in the House when the final vote was taken.
Mark Sharp (D-Kansas City) was one of the sponsors of Blair’s Law, as he has been for the past five years. He has long seen the passion and emotion Shanahan DeMoss pours into the effort, and it became personal for him as well.
“It’s been so important to my community,” Sharp said. “Just in my own neighborhood, alone, on days like Fourth of July or New Year’s Eve and we have an almost three year-old daughter, and sometimes we don’t even feel comfortable sitting in our living room on the Fourth of July or New Year’s Eve because of the amount of gunfire that we can so easily hear. It sounds like it’s on your own street, it’s so close it comes to feel like it’s in your backyard. It’s very scary. People have been hurt and killed, officers have been hit by bullets that come down, it’s just incredibly scary. We hope that our prosecutor and our chief of police will work together to make some arrests.”
Representative Sherri Gallick (R-Belton) also sponsored Blair’s Law this year. She first heard about it directly from Shanahan DeMoss after knocking on her door while campaigning. She decided, then, that she would also push for the legislation.
Blair’s Law would specify that a person is guilty of unlawful discharge of a firearm if they, with criminal negligence, discharge a firearm in or into the limits of a municipality. A first offense would be a class “A” misdemeanor which carries up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $2,000; a second time would be a class “E” felony carrying up to four years in prison; and third and any subsequent offense would be a class “D” felony, punishable by up to seven years in prison.
The first time Blair’s Law was truly agreed to by the House and Senate was in 2023, but it was part of a bill that included other provisions to which Governor Mike Parson (R) had objections, and because of those he vetoed it.
Sharp and Gallick anticipate it will be signed this year.
“Last year was a little different because it was the first time passing Blair’s Law, and it was a little surreal, so when he vetoed it I wasn’t completely surprised,” Sharp said. “This year I have every reason to think the governor’s going to sign it. It’s been a very emotional day for me personally.”
Even after going through the emotional high to low of the first ever passage of Blair’s Law last year followed by the disappointment of its veto, Shanahan DeMoss did not hesitate to come to the Capitol multiple times this year to push for it again.
Supporters note that one of the positives of the proposal not having passed for so many years is that it continued to garner attention throughout that time. That publicity likely prevented at least some incidents of people firing a gun into the air.
Even if the governor signs Blair’s Law this year, Shanahan DeMoss, Gallick, and Sharp say they want to keep that attention up. That is especially true as the Independence Day holiday approaches, as it is both the anniversary of Blair’s death, and it remains a time when incidents of “celebratory gunfire” spike.
Last year the Kansas City Police Department’s SoundSpotter system – sound capturing technology that the Kansas City Police Department uses to identify potential gunshots – detected 193 rounds fired between 6 p.m. on July 4 and 6 a.m. on July 5.
“I don’t think that [Shanahan DeMoss is] just going to say, ‘Okay, this is done,’ because that’s not who she is,” Gallick said. “She will continue to bring awareness to it. I think it’s up to us, and the media, to be honest with you. Especially around the Fourth of July, but even with celebrations with the Chiefs and New Year’s and other things that go on, people should not be firing guns recklessly.
Gallick and Sharp are the latest in a long line of former House members who have sponsored Blair’s Law since 2011.
“I want them to know that I celebrate them,” DeMoss said of them, and of all the legislators who have carried the measure. “I celebrate that they put in the effort, that they listened to me, which I know at times is probably hard because I have a tendency to go on and on until I know I’ve driven my point home.”
Blair’s legacy continues in other ways, as well. Six of her organs went to five people, and her mother runs a charity in her name. Blair’s Foster Socks gives socks and other items to children in need.
Blair’s Law was sent to Governor Parson as part of Senate Bill 754. He can sign it into law, veto it, or allow it to become law without his action.
Shanahan DeMoss, like Sharp and Gallick, believes he will sign it, and said if a signing ceremony is held, “I will be there.”
VIDEO: House sends Governor a Bill to Block Landfill near Kansas City-area Neighborhoods
The state House has voted to send to the Governor a bill that would prevent the construction of a landfill in a residentially zoned area near the Kansas City border.
House Bill 1751 would require approval of nearby municipalities within a one-mile radius of a proposed solid waste processing facility, demolition landfill, or sanitary landfill, in addition to already proposed restrictions on solid waste disposal areas.
The issue has been a top priority for several years for Pleasant Hill Republican Mike Haffner, who said today’s vote is a victory for the property rights of Missourians.
“I am thrilled that HB 1751 has cleared the Missouri House and is one step closer to becoming law,” said Representative Haffner. “This legislation is a victory for the people of Missouri, who have spoken loud and clear about the need to defend their property rights and preserve the well-being of their communities.”
Majority Floor Leader Jonathan Patterson, a Lee’s Summit Republican, expressed pride in the work of Haffner and other colleagues in the House and Senate in at last guiding this issue through the legislature.
“The business owners that worked to build this landfill are decent, well-intentioned people who want to better their community and provide a service. I commend their actions to work with the community, the City of Raymore, and the legislature to come to an amicable agreement to draw this issue to a close,” Patterson said.
The House voted 121-25 to send that legislation to the governor, who can sign it into law, veto it, or allow it to become law without any action.
Blair’s Law against ‘celebratory gunfire’ back for 2024 session
For the twelfth time, Missouri legislators will be asked by the mother of a little girl killed by a stray bullet to increase penalties for the careless firing of guns.
The legislature this past session sent “Blair’s Law” to the desk of Governor Mike Parson (R). It was the first time that proposal reached the desk of a governor. Parson expressed support for it calling it something he’d “like to sign into law,” but it was only one measure among several that were combined into one bill, Senate Bill 189. He had issues with some of the other measures, and so it was vetoed.
Blair’s Law is named for Blair Shanahan Lane, who was 11 when she was hit by a stray bullet while celebrating Independence Day, 2011, with her family. Someone more than half a mile away carelessly fired their gun into the air and one of those bullets struck Blair in the neck. She died the next day.
The man who fired that gun served 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter. No state law directly addresses what is often called, “celebratory gunfire.” Every legislative session Blair’s death, her mother has come to Jefferson City to change that.
Michele Shanahan DeMoss said since Blair’s Law was vetoed, after being passed for the first time after more than a decade of work, she has been, “thoughtful.
The “processes” to which she refers are the renewed efforts to see Blair’s Law become part of Missouri law. That is a top priority for two state lawmakers, and that is why the proposal was again among those prefiled on December 1; the first day that bills could be filed for the 2024 session.
One of those legislators is Representative Mark Sharp (D), who will be carrying that proposal for the fifth straight year. He said even though it was vetoed, he and other supporters see its passage last year as a win.
Joining the list of legislators who over the years have sponsored Blair’s Law is Belton Republican Sherri Gallick, who is in her second year in the Missouri House. Gallick met DeMoss while campaigning in 2022 and that’s when she first heard Blair’s story.
Gallick said of DeMoss, “She has been steadfast … there’s been other legislators throughout the years that have tried to help and she’s still very adamant. She wants to do this. She wants to get it across the finish line for her daughter.”
House Bills 1437 (Gallick) and 1477 (Sharp) would specify that a person is guilty of unlawful discharge of a firearm if they, with criminal negligence, discharge a firearm in or into the limits of a municipality. A first offense would be a class “A” misdemeanor which carries up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $2,000; a second time would be a class “E” felony carrying up to four years in prison; and third and any subsequent offense would be a class “D” felony, punishable by up to seven years in prison.
Even as efforts to pass Blair’s Law continue, incidents involving stray gunfire keep happening. Last month, while in her own bedroom in her south Kansas City home, 11 year-old Lauren Reddick was hit by two bullets. One of those left her paralyzed.
On New Year’s Eve, the Department’s SoundSpotter system identified more than 2,300 rounds fired between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. on January 1. That was more than double the total detected by that sound capturing technology one year prior.
Over the years that Blair’s Law has been proposed, the attention it has gotten has created awareness of the dangers presented by careless gunfire, and its supporters hope that will continue to be a residual benefit of their efforts.
“It is absolutely unbelievable, the places I go, not even in Missouri, that either somebody will learn the story, recognize me, somebody else will tell them, and a conversation [will begin] with regards to celebratory gunfire, firing a gun recklessly, and unfortunately even other tragic situations, because of the conversation continuing and that really is the biggest thing that I share,” DeMoss said. “Year after year it would be nice to cross the finish line, have it signed into law and see the goodness that really transpires from it. Raising the awareness is one thing but being able to actually prosecute the crime would, I think, be the game changer.”
Gallick, like other Republicans who have carried or spoken in support of the legislation through the years, says among other things it is an issue of responsible gun ownership.
Both representatives say they are optimistic about the legislation’s chances of passage in 2024, given its overwhelming bipartisan support and the Governor’s message. They also commend DeMoss, who they say is “inspiring” as she has remained consistent and undaunted.
“There are so many people that think I should be devastated that it didn’t pass and I’m not devastated,” said DeMoss. “There are so many disappointments that I could list but … the worst things that could happen to a human being happened to Blair and changed my life forever, and I will continue lobbying. I will continue educating, carrying on the conversation that celebratory gunfire, firing a gun recklessly is stupidity. To continue to persevere to change the law, to make the law what we’ve been working on absolutely needs to be done.”
The new session of the Missouri General Assembly begins January 3.