Over the last week, you may have seen questions online about whether or not SB-727 makes it a crime for homeschooling Missourians to possess firearms in their homes.
You have likely heard that having a gun at home will be a felony.
You have likely heard that Senator Koenig tried to maliciously sneak gun control into a 167-page long bill.
And you’ve likely heard a lot more than that.
Over the last few days, I’ve seen videos from bloggers who live all over America pig-piling onto this claim in a desperate attempt to get clicks on their YouTube channel.
I’m going to break down these concerns and give you the facts about SB-727 as it pertains to gun rights. No hype. No spin. No fear. Just facts.
Before I get to the bill, I will tell you that my wife and I have seven children and we (well, really my wife) homeschool all of them. This is as personal to me as it is to many of you.
So here’s the breakdown, claim by claim:
Claim #1: Missouri code 571.030(10) makes it a crime to possess a firearm in any school. SB-727 will apply this to homeschools. This means that homeschoolers can’t possess firearms at home!
Fact #1: That is false. Here is the code section, verbatim. Pay close attention to the phrases I have underlined.
“(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;
This code section refers to public schools with its references to ‘school buses’ and ‘school officials’ and ‘district school board.’ It’s always been applied that way. This does not refer to a homeschool situation. Claiming that this will now apply to homeschoolers is sensational, not factual.
Claim #2: SB-727 will allow the feds to target Missouri homeschool parents using the federal Gun Free School Zone Act found in 18 U.S.C. 921(a). Memes talking about this cite the following language in federal statute:
The term “school zone” means —
(A)in, or on the grounds of, a public, parochial or private school; or
(B)within a distance of 1,000 feet from the grounds of a public, parochial or private school.
Fact #2: This is false. Reread what you just read. The federal Gun Free School Zone Act applies to public, parochial or private schools. It does NOT say homeschools anywhere in the code. Even if it did, this federal law allows for exceptions for ‘private property not part of school grounds.’
Claim #3: Senator Koenig has redefined what a homeschool is (making it regulatable like a public school) with the phrasing on pg. 85, line 1 of SB-727 which says, “For purposes of state law, a ‘home school’ is a school…”
Fact #3: This is false. If you read the bill in context it says: “For purposes of state law, a ‘home school’ is a school that” and then it proceeds to define a homeschool with five different features including:
- Has private or religious education as its primary purpose
- Enrolls no more than four kids who are not family members
- Does not charge fees for the education provided
- Does not enroll kids enrolled in other educational program
- Is not an FPE school
Read in context, the use of the word ‘school’ on page 85, line 1 is generic, not definitional. The word is controlled by or defined by the 5 points that immediately follow.
Claim #4: SB-727 will make it illegal for homeschoolers to shoot guns on their own property. After all, 571.030(6) is clear that it’s a crime to, “Discharge a firearm within one hundred yards of any occupied schoolhouse, courthouse, or church building.”
Fact #4: This is false. Nowhere in Missouri code is the word ‘schoolhouse’ defined as a homeschool. In fact, while not applicable to SB-727, Missouri code 167.800(4) refers to a school as, “any elementary or secondary public school or charter school located within the state of Missouri.” Again, 167.800 is narrow in its scope, but it shows how Missouri generally interprets what a school means.
Claim #5: Senate Republicans intentionally tried to sneak this into the education reform bill, hoping that since it’s 167 pages long, it would slide through before anyone could stop it.
Fact #5: This, in particular, is not just false, it is insane. The Missouri Senate has some of the most ferocious gun rights champions we’ve had in generations. But even if that were not the case, consider the fact that Senators Brattin, Hoskins, Eigel, Koenig, Coleman, and others have primaries in August. The last thing they would do (even if they wanted to be malicious)_is tank their election chances by passing a sneak gun control bill.
I hope that after reading this, you’ll be able to see that much of the noise you’ve heard about SB-727 is hysterical hype, designed to generate clicks on someone’s YouTube channel or Facebook page.
If you’ve been alarmed and are now calming down, a natural question to ask yourself is what else (besides clicks) is driving this false narrative.
It’s simple: there are a lot of organizations here in Jeff City that don’t like SB-727 and want to kill it. They have been unable to do that, currently.
They know that since gun rights is the most potent political issue in Missouri (thanks to MOFC members like you), if they can call this a gun control bill, it will die.
In other words, they are trying to trade on the Missouri Firearms Coalition’s name to do their bidding.
Take it as a compliment folks, because that’s exactly what it is.
Finally, I want to be very clear on one final thing.
Senate Bill 727 is an education bill. It’s not a Second Amendment bill. There are plenty of legislators who I respect who dislike this bill. In fact, personally, I’m not much of fan of it myself.
But two statements can be true at the same time.
SB-727 may not be a good bill…
and
…SB-727 does not contain a threat to homeschoolers who own guns.
For Missouri,
Aaron Dorr
Political Director
Missouri Firearms Coalition
