ST. LOUIS - On Wednesday, St. Louis City Councilwoman Shalonda Webb joined Total Information A.M. Tuesday to discuss plans for St. Louis County to address gun violence.
She believes that thinks it time for the county to address gun violence, however her comments from her appearance drew immediate pushback from fellow St. Louis County Councilman and Vice-Chairman Mark Harder, who issued a statement during the interview, pushing back on Webb's comments.
“Any attempt to curtail the gun rights of law abiding citizens in Missouri is a direct assault on our Second Amendment," Harder said in a statement, "Our focus must lie in the enforcement of existing laws and the removal of dangerous, criminal elements from our streets. That is why I will continue to champion our dedicated police officers and work tirelessly to secure the resources they require to ensure the safety of our community.”
Wednesday, it was Harder turn to step into Total Information A.M. with the vice-chairman addressed his statement and the comments made by Webb.
Harder believes that what Webb is proposing is near similar to a ordinance that was passed in St. Louis City that requires gun owners to have a conceal carry permit if they open carry in the city.
Harder says he wants to let the public understand both the intended and unintended consequences of legislation when it comes to gun control like the one Webb is going to allegedly propose.
"We have a society that isn't going to pay attention to no matter what law you make of limiting their gun use," Harder said, "The people I think (Webb) is trying to put the pressure on aren't going to pay attention to a law that she or the city makes when it comes to illegal use of weapons."
Harder believes the best approach to stop the gun violence is to make sure officers and prosecutors are doing better of enforcing existing gun laws, not new stricter ones.
"For so many years in St. Louis City, we've had police have their hands tied for a long time and a prosecutor who has been afraid of prosecute these type of crimes in the city," Harder said, "The city basically put their hands up and dumped the gun crimes to the federal level and that was the only prosecutions they could get for a long time because the city wouldn't prosecute or the prosecutions were ineffective."