Several of the legislators at a forum last week at the Daniel Boone Regional Library recited their support of Second Amendment gun rights.
Among them were state Rep. Chuck Basye, R-Rocheport, who described himself as a "huge Second Amendment supporter," and state Rep. Kip Kendrick, D-Columbia, who said both he and his wife hunt.
Another was state Rep. Cheri Toalson Reisch, R-Hallsville.
"I do support the Second Amendment," Reisch said at the forum, which was sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Columbia-Boone County and The Daniel Boone Regional Library.
Susan Fields, who was in the audience, said she did not know Reisch was a lawmaker before Reisch sat down at the table with the other legislators. However, she said that earlier in the evening she had overheard Reisch requesting a police presence over her cellphone as she walked toward the library. Fields said she also heard Reisch saying she feared for her safety and that she had a gun in her purse.
Fields said Reisch was speaking loudly enough to easily be heard.
"It was unsettling, and I was kind of rattled," Fields said. Inside the crowded room, she said, Reisch was mingling when Fields told a man standing next to her: "That woman has a gun in her purse."
"Reisch turned around and said to me, 'That's the Second Amendment, honey,'" Fields said. "She called me 'honey,' and that pissed me off."
Fields said she supports the Second Amendment and has guns in her home in southern Boone County. But she said it was reckless of Reisch to bring a gun to a crowded forum at a public library.
The library is posted with signs prohibiting firearms, and library policy says guns and other weapons are prohibited, unless authorized by law. Punishment can include losing library privileges or access to library buildings. Columbia city ordinance prohibits guns in all city-owned buildings, but city spokesman Steve Sapp said that law does not apply to Daniel Boone Regional Library because it is its own political subdivision.
"We have asked our attorney to take another look at this because we know the law is not really clear," said Daniel Boone Regional Library Associate Director Elinor Barrett.
Maj. Tom Redden of the Boone County Sheriff's Department oversees permitting of concealed guns in the county. He referred to the list of locations in state law where concealed guns are prohibited, including schools, airports, courthouses, polling places on election day, at government meetings and in jails and prisons. Libraries, except law libraries in courthouses, are not on the list.
New state laws that took effect Jan. 1 allow adults to carry concealed weapons without a permit. The law expands the state's "castle doctrine" permitting homeowners and their guests to use deadly force against intruders. It also creates a "stand your ground" right, which allows people to shoot without retreating to protect themselves. A defendant in a recent Columbia shooting told police he thought the law allowed him to shoot a man who allegedly stole his cellphone.
Missouri law now prohibits concealed firearms on university and college campuses, as do University of Missouri System regulations. Bills designed to reverse the law were introduced in the 2016 legislative session, but none passed.
"Of all the people in the room, she was the most threatening," Fields said. "She was armed."
Another audience member who had a conversation with Reisch after the formal question-and-answer session said Reisch told her she had a gun in her purse at the meeting because she was fearful.
"I don't think that's anybody's business" if I had a gun, Reisch said when a Tribune reporter asked about the conversation.
MacKenzie Everett-Kennedy, a Hickman High School teacher who helped encourage people to attend the forum to question lawmakers, was in the audience packed into the library's Friends Room. The legislators stayed after the formal question-and-answer session to talk individually with audience members.
Everett-Kennedy said she approached Reisch to talk with her about school safety and keeping guns out of schools. Everett-Kennedy said Reisch steered the conversation toward gun rights and mentioned she had a gun in her home to protect herself.
Everett-Kennedy said Reisch appeared nervous. She said Reisch told her that as she was walking toward the library and realized there was a large crowd inside, she walked back to her car to get her purse. Then Reisch proclaimed she had a gun in her purse, Everett-Kennedy said.
"She felt like it was a hostile crowd," Everett-Kennedy said. At one point in the meeting, a man shouted "liar" at Reisch and continued shouting as he left the room, but the man never approached her.
"I did feel very uncomfortable," Reisch said in an interview. "It was a very unruly crowd. I felt very unsafe. The crowd was very hostile."
Everett-Kennedy said she did not agree with Reisch's characterization of the crowd. She described the people in the room as impassioned and sometimes emotional, but not in any way threatening.
Carol Schreiber, secretary of the local League of Women Voters, said she didn't think anyone was in any danger at the meeting. She said she rose to usher out a man who made an outburst but that otherwise the audience was respectful of the legislators. She said there was some grumbling from the audience, but the moderator kept things under control.
"There was a little more reaction than there would be if there were 50 or 60 people in the audience," she said.
Reisch said she had no comment when a Tribune reporter asked whether people entering the library should obey postings there prohibiting firearms.
"Maybe I should have let your call go to voice mail. I'm at work, and I have three jobs," Reisch said. She did not respond to a phone message seeking a follow-up interview.
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Signs posted, but law not clear on guns in libraries - Columbia Daily Tribune