JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A fight over allowing guns on public transportation dominated debate on the Missouri budget Wednesday.
Republican Sen. Bob Onder, of Lake St. Louis, tried to amend the budget to strip public transportation funding unless buses and trains allow people with concealed carry permits to ride.
But top Republican Sen. Dave Schatz struck the proposal down, saying it would violate rules against enacting policies through the budget.
That prompted Onder to try to strip all $1.7 million in public transportation funding. He eventually pared that down to only zero-out funding for public transportation in Kansas City, St. Louis and Springfield.
Onder told another senator that the move wasn’t retaliatory but was intended to “send a message.”
“If you want to violate our constituents’ 2nd Amendment rights, their legitimate rights to self-protection, then you can forgo public money,” Onder said.
The fight ground work on the rest of the state’s roughly $34 billion budget to a halt.
