JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Missouri Supreme Court says a recent amendment to the state constitution doesn’t mean some felons now can carry guns.
The Tuesday ruling by the Supreme Court applies to a 2014 amendment making the right to bear arms “unalienable.”
The amendment specified that lawmakers can limit the rights of “violent” felons. That led to confusion about what the change means for felons convicted of nonviolent crimes.
The judges ruled on the case of a man previously convicted of a nonviolent felony and later charged with unlawfully possessing a firearm.
The Supreme Court ruling clarifies that Missouri’s current ban on felons possessing firearms is constitutional.
The high court has previously upheld the ban in other felon-gun cases based on a version of the Missouri Constitution that existed before the 2014 amendment.
