FIRST REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 309
93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR WILSON.
Read 1st time February 7, 2005, and ordered printed.
TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.
1268S.02I
AN ACT
To repeal sections 571.010 and 571.030, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof two new sections relating to stun guns.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Sections 571.010 and 571.030, RSMo, are repealed and two new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 571.010 and 571.030, to read as follows:
571.010. As used in this chapter:
(1) "Antique, curio or relic firearm" means any firearm so defined by the National Gun Control Act, 18 U.S.C. Title 26, Section 5845, and the United States Treasury/Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, 27 CFR Section 178.11:
(a) Antique firearm is any firearm not designed or redesigned for using rim fire or conventional center fire ignition with fixed ammunition and manufactured in or before 1898, said ammunition not being manufactured any longer; this includes any matchlock, wheel lock, flintlock, percussion cap or similar type ignition system, or replica thereof;
(b) Curio or relic firearm is any firearm deriving value as a collectible weapon due to its unique design, ignition system, operation or at least fifty years old, associated with a historical event, renown personage or major war;
(2) "Blackjack" means any instrument that is designed or adapted for the purpose of stunning or inflicting physical injury by striking a person, and which is readily capable of lethal use;
(3) "Concealable firearm" means any firearm with a barrel less than sixteen inches in length, measured from the face of the bolt or standing breech;
(4) "Deface" means to alter or destroy the manufacturer's or importer's serial number or any other distinguishing number or identification mark;
(5) "Explosive weapon" means any explosive, incendiary, or poison gas bomb or similar device designed or adapted for the purpose of inflicting death, serious physical injury, or substantial property damage; or any device designed or adapted for delivering or shooting such a weapon;
(6) "Firearm" means any weapon that is designed or adapted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive;
(7) "Firearm silencer" means any instrument, attachment, or appliance that is designed or adapted to muffle the noise made by the firing of any firearm;
(8) "Gas gun" means any gas ejection device, weapon, cartridge, container or contrivance other than a gas bomb, that is designed or adapted for the purpose of ejecting any poison gas that will cause death or serious physical injury, but not any device that ejects a repellant or temporary incapacitating substance;
(9) "Intoxicated" means substantially impaired mental or physical capacity resulting from introduction of any substance into the body;
(10) "Knife" means any dagger, dirk, stiletto, or bladed hand instrument that is readily capable of inflicting serious physical injury or death by cutting or stabbing a person. For purposes of this chapter, "knife" does not include any ordinary pocketknife with no blade more than four inches in length;
(11) "Knuckles" means any instrument that consists of finger rings or guards made of a hard substance that is designed or adapted for the purpose of inflicting serious physical injury or death by striking a person with a fist enclosed in the knuckles;
(12) "Machine gun" means any firearm that is capable of firing more than one shot automatically, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger;
(13) "Projectile weapon" means any bow, crossbow, pellet gun, slingshot or other weapon that is not a firearm, which is capable of expelling a projectile that could inflict serious physical injury or death by striking or piercing a person;
(14) "Rifle" means any firearm designed or adapted to be fired from the shoulder and to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed metallic cartridge to fire a projectile through a rifled bore by a single function of the trigger;
(15) "Short barrel" means a barrel length of less than sixteen inches for a rifle and eighteen inches for a shotgun, both measured from the face of the bolt or standing breech, or an overall rifle or shotgun length of less than twenty-six inches;
(16) "Shotgun" means any firearm designed or adapted to be fired from the shoulder and to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed shotgun shell to fire a number of shot or a single projectile through a smooth bore barrel by a single function of the trigger;
(17) "Spring gun" means any fused, timed or nonmanually controlled trap or device designed or adapted to set off an explosion for the purpose of inflicting serious physical injury or death;
(18) "Stun gun or taser", any portable device or weapon from which an electric current, impulse, wave, or beam is produced that is capable of incapacitating temporarily, injuring, or killing a human being;
(19) "Switchblade knife" means any knife which has a blade that folds or closes into the handle or sheath, and
(a) That opens automatically by pressure applied to a button or other device located on the handle; or
(b) That opens or releases from the handle or sheath by the force of gravity or by the application of centrifugal force.
571.030. 1. A person commits the crime of unlawful use of weapons if he or she knowingly:
(1) Carries concealed upon or about his or her person a knife, a firearm, a blackjack or any other weapon readily capable of lethal use; or
(2) Sets a spring gun; or
(3) Discharges or shoots a firearm into a dwelling house, a railroad train, boat, aircraft, or motor vehicle as defined in section 302.010, RSMo, or any building or structure used for the assembling of people; or
(4) Exhibits, in the presence of one or more persons, any weapon readily capable of lethal use in an angry or threatening manner; or
(5) Possesses or discharges a firearm or projectile weapon while intoxicated; or
(6) Discharges a firearm within one hundred yards of any occupied schoolhouse, courthouse, or church building; or
(7) Discharges or shoots a firearm at a mark, at any object, or at random, on, along or across a public highway or discharges or shoots a firearm into any outbuilding; or
(8) Carries a firearm or any other weapon readily capable of lethal use into any church or place where people have assembled for worship, or into any election precinct on any election day, or into any building owned or occupied by any agency of the federal government, state government, or political subdivision thereof; or
(9) Discharges or shoots a firearm at or from a motor vehicle, as defined in section 301.010, RSMo, discharges or shoots a firearm at any person, or at any other motor vehicle, or at any building or habitable structure, unless the person was lawfully acting in self-defense; [or]
(10) Carries a firearm, whether loaded or unloaded, or any other weapon readily capable of lethal use into any school, onto any school bus, or onto the premises of any function or activity sponsored or sanctioned by school officials or the district school board; or
(11) Owns, possesses, or discharges a stun gun or taser.
2. Subdivisions (1), (3), (4), (6), (7), (8), (9) [and], (10), and (11) of subsection 1 of this section shall not apply to or affect any of the following:
(1) All state, county and municipal peace officers who have completed the training required by the police officer standards and training commission pursuant to sections 590.030 to 590.050, RSMo, and possessing the duty and power of arrest for violation of the general criminal laws of the state or for violation of ordinances of counties or municipalities of the state, whether such officers are on or off duty, and whether such officers are within or outside of the law enforcement agency's jurisdiction, or any person summoned by such officers to assist in making arrests or preserving the peace while actually engaged in assisting such officer;
(2) Wardens, superintendents and keepers of prisons, penitentiaries, jails and other institutions for the detention of persons accused or convicted of crime;
(3) Members of the armed forces or national guard while performing their official duty;
(4) Those persons vested by article V, section 1 of the Constitution of Missouri with the judicial power of the state and those persons vested by Article III of the Constitution of the United States with the judicial power of the United States, the members of the federal judiciary;
(5) Any person whose bona fide duty is to execute process, civil or criminal;
(6) Any federal probation officer;
(7) Any state probation or parole officer, including supervisors and members of the board of probation and parole;
(8) Any corporate security advisor meeting the definition and fulfilling the requirements of the regulations established by the board of police commissioners under section 84.340, RSMo; and
(9) Any coroner, deputy coroner, medical examiner, or assistant medical examiner.
3. Subdivisions (1), (5), (8), and (10) of subsection 1 of this section do not apply when the actor is transporting such weapons in a nonfunctioning state or in an unloaded state when ammunition is not readily accessible or when such weapons are not readily accessible. Subdivision (1) of subsection 1 of this section does not apply to any person twenty-one years of age or older transporting a concealable firearm in the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle, so long as such concealable firearm is otherwise lawfully possessed, nor when the actor is also in possession of an exposed firearm or projectile weapon for the lawful pursuit of game, or is in his or her dwelling unit or upon premises over which the actor has possession, authority or control, or is traveling in a continuous journey peaceably through this state. Subdivision (10) of subsection 1 of this section does not apply if the firearm is otherwise lawfully possessed by a person while traversing school premises for the purposes of transporting a student to or from school, or possessed by an adult for the purposes of facilitation of a school-sanctioned firearm-related event.
4. Subdivisions (1), (8), and (10) of subsection 1 of this section shall not apply to any person who has a valid concealed carry endorsement issued pursuant to sections 571.101 to 571.121 or a valid permit or endorsement to carry concealed firearms issued by another state or political subdivision of another state.
5. Subdivisions (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), and (10) of subsection 1 of this section shall not apply to persons who are engaged in a lawful act of defense pursuant to section 563.031, RSMo.
6. Nothing in this section shall make it unlawful for a student to actually participate in school-sanctioned gun safety courses, student military or ROTC courses, or other school-sponsored firearm-related events, provided the student does not carry a firearm or other weapon readily capable of lethal use into any school, onto any school bus, or onto the premises of any other function or activity sponsored or sanctioned by school officials or the district school board.
7. Unlawful use of weapons is a class D felony unless committed pursuant to subdivision (6), (7), or (8) of subsection 1 of this section, in which cases it is a class B misdemeanor, or subdivision (5) or (10) of subsection 1 of this section, in which case it is a class A misdemeanor if the firearm is unloaded and a class D felony if the firearm is loaded, or subdivision (9) of subsection 1 of this section, in which case it is a class B felony, except that if the violation of subdivision (9) of subsection 1 of this section results in injury or death to another person, it is a class A felony.
8. Violations of subdivision (9) of subsection 1 of this section shall be punished as follows:
(1) For the first violation a person shall be sentenced to the maximum authorized term of imprisonment for a class B felony;
(2) For any violation by a prior offender as defined in section 558.016, RSMo, a person shall be sentenced to the maximum authorized term of imprisonment for a class B felony without the possibility of parole, probation or conditional release for a term of ten years;
(3) For any violation by a persistent offender as defined in section 558.016, RSMo, a person shall be sentenced to the maximum authorized term of imprisonment for a class B felony without the possibility of parole, probation, or conditional release;
(4) For any violation which results in injury or death to another person, a person shall be sentenced to an authorized disposition for a class A felony.
9. Any person knowingly aiding or abetting any other person in the violation of subdivision (9) of subsection 1 of this section shall be subject to the same penalty as that prescribed by this section for violations by other persons.