The opinion is here. The law’s opinion argued that when the Missouri Constitution says
That the right of every citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person and property, or when lawfully summoned in aid of the civil power, shall not be questioned; but this shall not justify the wearing of concealed weapons
this means that the wearing of concealed weapons is forbidden. Not so, the Court said; the constitutional provision
means simply that the constitutional right does not extend to the carrying of concealed weapons, not that citizens are prohibited from doing so, or that the General Assembly is prohibited from enacting statutes allowing or disallowing the practice.
Parsing the clause proves the point. The subject is the word “this,” which refers back to “the right of every citizen to keep and bear arms . . . .” The operative words are “shall not justify.” “Shall not,” which are words of prohibition, modifies “justify,” which is:
1a: to prove or show to be just, desirable, warranted or useful: VINDICATE … b: to prove or show to be valid, sound or conforming to fact or reason: furnish grounds or evidence for: CONFIRM, SUPPORT, VERIFY … c (1) to show to have had sufficient legal reason ….
WEBSTER’S THIRD NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY, 1228 (3d ed. 1993). Thus, the clause in its entirety must be read in this way: “but this [the right of every citizen to keep and bear arms . . .] shall not justify [shall not warrant, shall not furnish grounds or evidence for, shall not support, or shall not provide sufficient legal reasons for] the wearing of concealed weapons.”
In short, the words used are plain and unambiguous. There is no constitutional prohibition against the wearing of concealed weapons; there is only a prohibition against invoking the right to keep and bear arms to justify the wearing of concealed weapons. Consequently, the General Assembly, which has plenary power to enact legislation on any subject in the absence of a constitutional prohibition, has the final say in the use and regulation of concealed weapons. . . .
The Missouri Supreme Court is absolutely right about this; for my earlier arguments on the subject, see here and here.
UPDATE: As Clayton Cramer points out, “upholds” may be too strong a term; there are some funding issues that may keep the permit issuing requirement from being enforced in some counties until the Legislature cures the funding problem.
Comments are closed.