Missouri lawmaker’s town hall to focus on gun rights and crime prevention

Two hot-button issues will be front and center at a Missouri lawmaker’s town hall meeting Thursday night. Representative Shamed Dogan, R-Ballwin (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications) Republican Representative Shamed Dogan of Ballwin is holding a gathering at a high school in Fenton east of St. Louis to discuss gun rights and crime prevention at the same time. Advocates for gun control and gun rights will exchange ideas. Dogan says he wants to find common ground between the two divergent groups to move forward in an effort to curb violence and crime in Missouri. “To the best of my ability, I want to see if there are solutions where we can meet in the middle,” said Dogan. “Often times you are going to have to agree to disagree. But there are going to some issues where I think people who think they’re on divergent sides can agree.” A recent survey by financial news company 27/4WallSt. ranked St. Louis and Springfield as the 3 rd and 8 th worst cities in the country to live in, largely based on crime and poverty. CBS News published a list of U.S. cities that had the highest rate of violent crime in 2016, the most recent year available from the FBI. St. Louis was number 2 followed by Kansas City at number 6 and Springfield which came in at number 19. Dogan thinks those cities, which are the three most populated centers of the state, present the biggest problem areas in Missouri. […]

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