Issue Position: Standing Up for Law and Order

Issue Position

The first and most important function of government is to keep our citizens safe.

Murder rates are skyrocketing in our cities, with St. Louis and Kansas City seeing an 18% and 41% increase in homicides in 2015 alone. Lawlessness is taking hold in too many communities and at our universities. It is time to bring law and order back to the streets of Missouri. Let's tackle the rising crime rates in our inner cities, give the police our support to do the job that we need them to do and restore the trust between our communities and law enforcement.

As a former federal prosecutor, I was appalled by Governor Nixon's blame-the-police attitude in Ferguson. I have prosecuted thousands of cases with the assistance of local, state and federal law enforcement officers, and I know how difficult the challenges faced by police are. While there may be some bad apples, the vast majority of police officers serve their communities and selflessly risk their lives to make us all safer. As Governor, I will stand up for law enforcement.

Action Plan:
*Support police officers who are doing their jobs right;

*Increase the penalties for violent felons found to be in possession of a firearm to a mandatory minimum of five years' imprisonment;

*Increase the minimum penalties for using a firearm in furtherance of a felony ("armed criminal action") to five years for a first offense and ten years for subsequent offenses;

*Impose a three year mandatory minimum sentence for all violent assaults of police officers;

Source