Your Opinion: Guns in the Capitol

Stu Dunkel

Jefferson City

Dear Editor:

Read on your Jan. 5 front page of a brilliant idea being considered by Gov. Mike Parson advancing firearms allowed in the Capitol! This is great news. If allowed, everyone apparently can bring in firearms.

They will be allowed everywhere except the House, Senate Chambers and committee rooms.

Think of the possibilities…..1. No need for security booths and personnel at entrances, 2. Capitol Police force can be reduced….these eliminations will save thousands of dollars a year. No need for them as everyone protects themselves….the public, Capitol personnel and staff, and of course the legislators. 3. If disagreements occur, a quick gun fight can settle the difference right in the Capitol hallways.

A gun fight in the Capitol could be the most exciting of events since Wild Bill Hickok took out Davis Tutt in a gun battle on the Springfield City square in 1865, or when Pretty Boy Floyd and friends gunned down four law enforcement officers and a criminal during the massacre at Kansas City Union Station in 1933…. last I looked the bullet holes were still in the facade.

Do we really want a chance of bullet holes in the Capitol walls?