By John Sharp
After repeated pleas by both elected and public safety officials not to engage in dangerous and sometimes deadly celebratory gunfire into the air and stern warnings about recently enacted much tougher criminal penalties in Blair’s Law for such gunfire within or into city limits in Missouri, the Kansas City Police Department released the great news that it got no reports of persons’ deaths or injuries on July 4 due to celebratory gunfire.
The KCPD also noted it got no reports of property damage from such gunfire on July 4, although several officials noted that commercial properties often receive roof damage from celebratory gunfire when they are closed, and don’t find out about it until they suffer roof leaks when it rains.
KCPD’s ShotSpotter system which covers much of the central portion of the city and can identify the precise location of gunfire and the number of shots fired, only recorded 31 incidents totaling 200 rounds fired during the 24 hours from 6 a.m. July 4 to 6 a.m. July 5 in the portion of KCMO it covers, far less than the numbers recorded in recent years on holidays such as July 4 and New Year’s Eve.
Blair’s Law, designed to deter celebratory and other reckless gunfire within all Missouri cities, went into effect last August 28 after passing the Missouri General Assembly that year and being signed into law that July by then Governor Mike Parson.
It is named to honor the memory of 11-year-old Blair Shanahan Lane who died as a result of being struck by celebratory gunfire while playing in the yard here on July 4, 2011.
Such legislation was championed for over a decade by Blair’s mother, Michele Shanahan DeMoss, and sponsored in the Missouri House of Representatives for several years by my son, Representative Mark Sharp, until its final passage last year.
Convictions for violating Blair’s Law are punishable by up to a year in jail and fines of up to $2,000 for the first offense which is a state misdemeanor, and subsequent convictions are felonies subject to much longer penitentiary sentences. Persons who have killed others by such gunfire can face involuntary manslaughter charges.
KCPD Chief Stacey Graves has warned, “Celebratory gunfire is dangerous, illegal and has resulted in death, right here in Kansas City.”
”KCPD has made numerous arrests for celebratory gunfire and will continue to enforce Blair’s Law until dangerous celebratory gunfire ceases,” she continued.
“We will prosecute every case of celebratory gunfire to the fullest extent of the law,” said Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson in a written statement, noting that bullets fired into the air return to earth at high velocity – more than enough to kill – even thousands of feet away.
Johnson, whose jurisdiction covers all of Jackson County and much of KCMO, noted her predecessor filed charges against 8 people for Blair’s Law violations last year, and her office filed charges against 15 people this year before July 4. Her office confirmed that 3 persons were charged with such violations in Independence during the July 4 weekend.
She urged everyone who sees or hears someone firing a gun recklessly in any city to immediately call 911.
“You are not snitching. You are potentially saving a life, maybe even your own,” she said.