Another positive step by my native state into the modern age...

[elSicomoro]

In case you didn't know, I'm originally from Missouri.

Missouri is the one of the last holdouts when it comes to guns--the state doesn't allow people to carry concealed weapons. It was a ballot proposition in 1999, and lost by a narrow margin--mainly due to the heavy "no" vote in St. Louis City and County (which contain about 25% of the state's population).

All that changes October 11th. The Missouri legislature has narrowly overrode a veto by Gov. Bob Holden to pass a bill "directing county sheriffs to issue licenses to carry concealed weapons to residents who meet certain requirements".

I haven't been keeping up with the news back home recently--this issue has been talked about for months, but I can't believe they actually passed it.

I haven't read the real nitty gritty on it, other than what the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has written. But it's definitely a good thing--particularly in St. Louis City. I think it will make things safer, and perhaps encourage more people to move to my native city--which has been losing population since the 1930s. Although initially, I sense it will spark some racial tensions. Hopefully, that will be just a mere concern in my own head.

And it gives people one less thing to make fun of when it comes to Missouri...just one though. There are still plenty of other things--though Missouri is nowhere near as bad as, say, Arkansas.