St.Louis was the deadliest city in the country raking in roughly 60 murders per 100,000 residents. KMOV news reported this as of yesterday for the year 2016. Out of the 314,507 residents in the city of St.Louis there was reported 188 murders. This number double New York's murders, when they have 8.5 million residents living in their city. So the usual theme that New York is not a place to be visited to due crime, one's theory should be reevaluated. Missouri’s gun laws have been the root cause of their crime rates, thus calling for a change.
In recent years, laws have not led to criminal activity to decrease. One of the leading causes of the crime rates for Missouri is teens accessibility to weapons. “Criminal activity amongst teenagers in the city is at a very high rate and unfortunately they do have access to illegal weapons” (O’Neil, 2016). This is caused by their elders passing down “hot” weapons. Santonio McCoy of St. Louis, who had a felony record, had a pistol when he was arrested in 2012. Missouri law prohibits felons from owning guns, and he was convicted of illegal possession of a firearm
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Missouri is liantiant in their gun laws and licences due to the history of Missouri in the past. For example a handgun can be purchased by someone the age of twenty one or older without a license. What they do not realize is unlicensed individuals may not conceal and carry that weapon on their person (“Missouri Gun Laws”). The license that allows one to carry a handgun on them is hard to obtain and the age requirement to receive this license is twenty-three (“Missouri Gun Laws”). The misconception Missourians have is they believe anyone and everyone can lawfully carry guns on them. This thought is skewed, and reports show how pistols were the weapon of choice for crimes. So when one thinks crime is at such a high due to loose gun laws in Missouri that is because of their own