Safer Communities, Restored Futures.
A joint agenda for youth protection, second chances, and civic restoration — a focused, three-part Missouri legislative agenda grounded in prevention, rehabilitation, and restoration.
Three achievable priorities, one shared principle.
Clear Tomorrow KC, AdHoc Group Against Crime, and Grandparents for Gun Safety propose a focused, three-part Missouri legislative agenda grounded in prevention, rehabilitation, and restoration.
Protect Youth
Establish age 18 as the minimum for unsupervised firearm possession or carrying, with reasonable supervised-use exceptions.
Expand Relief
Modernize Section 610.140 so more eligible Missourians can obtain meaningful and accessible expungement relief.
Restore Voice
Allow people with expunged, vacated, or pardoned felony convictions to qualify for public office.
Three organizations. One aligned agenda.
The coalition aligns policy expertise, lived experience, violence-prevention leadership, and grassroots advocacy around three achievable legislative priorities. Each organization brings a distinct constituency and a complementary role.
Clear Tomorrow KC
Leads policy development on Section 610.140, collateral consequences, reentry, and restoration of rights; recruits directly impacted testimony; supports legislative education and relationship-building.
AdHoc Group Against Crime
Connects the agenda to community safety, violence prevention, neighborhood engagement, and survivor/family perspectives; supports public-safety partnerships and community forums.
Grandparents for Gun Safety
Leads the youth firearm-access framework; recommends exceptions and enforcement safeguards; mobilizes parents, grandparents, and responsible firearm owners.
What success looks like.
- Children are protected from unsupervised access to firearms.
- A criminal sentence has a meaningful ending.
- Expungement provides real relief from lifelong barriers.
- A pardon or expungement results in meaningful restoration.
- Voters may decide whether a rehabilitated person is qualified to represent them.
- People who demonstrate transformation can work, lead, and participate fully in civic life.
What each bill would actually do.
Amend Missouri law to generally prohibit a person under 18 from possessing or carrying a firearm without responsible adult supervision — designed as a prevention measure that avoids unnecessary criminalization of youth.
Children should not carry firearms in public without responsible adult supervision. Missouri can respect lawful firearm ownership and sporting traditions while establishing a clear, responsible standard for youth firearm access.
Reasonable Exceptions to Consider
- Supervised hunting and lawful sporting activities
- Firearm safety and educational programs
- Supervised target practice
- Agricultural, ranching, or lawful employment activities
- Transportation of an unloaded firearm for an authorized activity
- Possession on family property with permission and supervision
Policy Design Principles
- Prioritize prevention, firearm removal, and parental responsibility
- Use diversion and age-appropriate intervention rather than default incarceration
- Focus accountability on adults who knowingly provide firearms to minors outside lawful exceptions
- Define "supervision" and authorized activities clearly, coordinated with existing federal and Missouri firearm provisions
Modernize Section 610.140, RSMo, so more people who have completed their sentences and demonstrated rehabilitation can clear eligible records and move beyond barriers to employment, housing, education, licensing, and civic participation.
A sentence should have an ending. Expungement is not about avoiding accountability — it's about what happens after accountability has been completed.
Recommended Reform Areas
Permit relief for additional older and nonviolent convictions when the sentence is complete, the waiting period has passed, and the person doesn't present a public-safety risk.
Increase or remove numerical limits in appropriate circumstances, including charges from the same incident or an extended crime-free period.
Simplify eligible dismissals, acquittals, arrests without charges, municipal offenses, nonviolent misdemeanors, and select lower-level felonies.
Address filing fees, service costs, complicated pleadings, inconsistent county practices, and the lack of affordable legal assistance.
Define when the period begins, what restarts it, and how financial obligations, probation, and parole affect eligibility.
Ensure courts, agencies, and commercial background-screening companies promptly reflect an expungement order.
Amend Section 115.306, RSMo, and related provisions so a person is not automatically disqualified from qualifying as a candidate solely because of a felony conviction that has been expunged, vacated, set aside, or fully pardoned.
The people should decide who represents them. An expungement or pardon should have meaningful legal effect, and restored eligibility preserves the voters' choice.
Narrow Exceptions to Evaluate
- Election fraud
- Bribery
- Public corruption
- Abuse of public office
- Misuse of public funds
- Official misconduct
Restoring eligibility does not put anyone into office. The person must still meet every other qualification, file as a candidate, and persuade voters. The reform restores the public's ability to consider the candidate's full record, transformation, service, and qualifications.
One principle, three legislative expressions.
Clear Tomorrow KC, AdHoc Group Against Crime, and Grandparents for Gun Safety are working together on three Missouri legislative priorities, connected by one idea: Missouri must prevent harm, recognize rehabilitation, and restore people to full civic participation.
| Principle | Legislative Expression |
|---|---|
| Prevention | Reduce the likelihood that youth conflict, crisis, or impulsive decisions become fatal because of unsupervised firearm access. |
| Rehabilitation | Create a realistic path for people to move beyond eligible criminal records after completing accountability. |
| Restoration | Ensure expungement or pardon can lead to full civic participation, including the opportunity to seek elected office. |
What we say, and why.
Missouri needs a complete approach to public safety: prevent harm before it occurs, create meaningful pathways after accountability, and restore full civic participation to people who have demonstrated rehabilitation.
We should not wait until a child has been shot, arrested, or killed before intervening. Responsible adult supervision is a reasonable public-safety standard.
People should be held accountable for harm, but accountability without a pathway to restoration becomes permanent punishment.
When Missouri grants an expungement, employers, agencies, and institutions should recognize the legal relief the court ordered.
A pardon is an extraordinary act recognizing rehabilitation, mercy, or injustice. It should carry meaningful consequences.
Restoring eligibility does not guarantee election. It allows voters to consider the person and decide.
Questions we expect, and how we answer them.
No. The proposal focuses on unsupervised possession by people under 18 and preserves reasonable exceptions for supervised hunting, training, sporting, agricultural, and other lawful activities.
The legislation should prioritize prevention, removal of the firearm, parental responsibility, diversion, and age-appropriate intervention rather than unnecessary incarceration.
The proposal applies after a court expunges the conviction or an authorized executive grants a full pardon. The person must still meet every qualification and win the voters' support.
The coalition can evaluate narrow exceptions for offenses directly involving election integrity, bribery, public corruption, or abuse of office — rather than maintaining a blanket lifetime ban for every felony.
No. It is a legal remedy granted after statutory requirements are met. It recognizes rehabilitation and limits the continued public use of the record.
Courts may continue evaluating rehabilitation, time since the offense, sentence completion, and public welfare. The goal is fair access to relief, not indiscriminate record clearing.
From coalition agreement to launch-ready package.
| Timing | Primary Actions | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Confirm membership, representatives, coalition name, general platform, and shared workspace. | Coalition charter and assignment list |
| Week 2 | Complete legal review, identify statutes to amend, draft policy concepts, and build a sponsor list. | Preliminary bill concepts |
| Week 3 | Meet prospective sponsors, revise language, recruit testimony, and develop fact sheets. | Sponsor feedback and advocacy materials |
| Week 4 | Approve language, confirm sponsors, create a sign-on letter, and set the public launch. | Launch-ready legislative package |
Clear Tomorrow KC, AdHoc Group Against Crime, and Grandparents for Gun Safety are joining together to advance a Missouri legislative agenda focused on safer communities, meaningful second chances, and full civic participation.
Our coalition will advocate for establishing age 18 as the minimum age for unsupervised firearm possession or carrying, expanding Missouri's expungement law, and restoring eligibility to hold public office for people whose convictions have been expunged, vacated, or pardoned.
We believe children should not carry firearms in public without responsible adult supervision. We believe a criminal sentence should have an ending. We believe an expungement or pardon should have meaningful legal effect. And we believe voters should be allowed to decide whether a rehabilitated person is qualified to represent them.
Together, we are working toward safer communities and restored futures for people and families across Missouri.
Safer Communities. Meaningful Second Chances. Restored Futures.
We invite lawmakers, community organizations, public-safety professionals, legal advocates, responsible firearm owners, survivors, directly impacted people, and Missouri residents to join this balanced legislative agenda.