KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Gun control advocates and liberal-leaning press outlets have vented their own frustrations about the passage of SB 656 last week during veto session. The New York Times called Missouri the “Shoot-Me State” in an editorial after it passed, and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah devoted a segment criticizing the new law.
J. Ranen Bechthold, an Army veteran running for state Senate as a Democrat against Sen. Ryan Silvey, has his own frustrations with the law.
Bechthold believes that the logical extension of many gun rights supporters’ beliefs means that crew-served weapons like mortars and rocket-propelled grenade launchers should also be protected.
“As I understand it, the Second Amendment is a defense against tyranny,” Bechthold said. “A lot of their talking points are about becoming if the government becomes tyrannical, at that point, it’s not really about that. Any government’s going to have way more firepower.”
Bechthold believes in following that thread to its logical conclusion and that if a person truly needed to start an insurrection against the government, it would need something with more firepower than a hunting rifle to do so.
Flamethrowers, miniguns, cannons and artillery and even some grenade launchers are already civilian legal in the United States (the latter three are classified as explosive devices by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives). However, the taxes and storage requirements for their ammunition usually make it not worth the purchaser’s while.
In general terms, Bechthold says he supports the Second Amendment based on his own time serving in the military in Afghanistan. However, he generally supports more background checks, and restricting the rights of convicted violent felons and the mentally incompetent from owning a firearm.
The tongue-in-cheek attitude belies a serious concern he has about the effects of weapons used primarily for warfare could have on a populace.
“If those weapons were legal, what kind of society would that be,” he said. “I’ve been in Afghanistan. I’ve seen a country awash with weapons like that.”
Bechthold’s currently in litigation with Silvey, who contends Bechthold has not resided at his stated district residence and thus he is not eligible to run for office in the district. Bechthold won the initial case, but Silvey appealed. A decision on the appeal is expected later this week.
PHOTO/FACEBOOK – J Ranen Bechthold for Missouri Senate 2016
