SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A Springfield senator crossed the aisle to vote down a bill to further loosen gun restrictions in the state.

Republican Senator Lincoln Hough joined two Democrats on the General Laws Committee to vote ‘no’ on Senate Bill 10, which would have blocked federal funding for “red flag” gun laws.

Senator Hough said there are already several pro-Second Amendment laws in the state. However, with Monday’s school shooting in Nashville, Hough said this is not the time to ease gun regulations.

“We become okay with this norm of school shootings and it’s not OK,” said Hough.

“This legislature passed a few years ago, Second Amendment Preservation Act that I think was thrown out in court recently for being unconstitutional,” Hough said. “This comes down to a very similar situation where we’re going to nullify some sort of federal action, which we’ve seen thrown out in court already.”

Wednesday morning, Senator Hough took a stand and voted against a bill aimed at loosening gun restrictions.

“Red flag”

Republican and Bill Sponsor Bill Eigel said he has a right to protect the Second Amendment. That’s why he was surprised when a member of his own party voted against the measure.

“Senate Bill 10 was the anti-‘red flag’ gun seizure act,” said Senator Bill Eigel.

“Red flag” laws can restrict someone who has been ruled a threat to themselves or someone else from having a gun.

“They create a path for government to use the judicial branch to seize your firearms based on feedback that they may be getting from law enforcement or the local population that may or may not be evidence introduced in the court and without any conviction, can be used to flag people for seizure of their firearms,” said Senator Eigel.

Crossing party lines

“It’s pretty unusual to see Republicans turn their back on the Second Amendment and join with Democrats to push back on that,” Eigel said. “But that’s exactly what happened.”

Senator Hough said voting ‘yes’ on this bill would not feel appropriate given this week’s school shooting.

“Six people lost their lives two days ago in Nashville and, you know, when I hug my kids and when I tell them to have a good day at school, I don’t want this to happen anymore,” said Hough.

As a lawmaker, Senator Eigel said he has a job to do.

“The reality of a tragedy that has occurred elsewhere does not make it okay to stop protecting people’s rights. We’re not going to give up this fight,” said Eigel.

“In my opinion, common sense gun owners in this state who are conservatives know that children are dying and believe that we need to do something about it,” Hough said. “If I need to be a voice of reason in the state capital, I’ll continue to do that.”

Eigel said lawmakers should implement security at schools.

“I think we need to empower local law enforcement to have the training and the background we need to support our school when they say we need to improve safety at every one of these entrances,” Hough said. “We need to protect the kids. We need to protect the teachers that are working there every day.”

“With all the money we have in our budget, Senator Hough, who is the chairman of the state appropriations, could put a line item into the state budget to put a security officer in every one of our public school buildings in the state,” Eigel said. “Yet he hasn’t done that.”

There is a similar bill heading through the House right now. Eigel hopes it passes and heads to the Senate.

“We’re probably not going to want to see that bill go to the same general committee that killed the first one,” Eigel said. “I think there are some other committees that would do a good job vetting that bill and moving it up to the Senate floor for further debate.”

Hough said he’s not sure if it will make it through the House, and that it could come back to the Senate.

“I don’t think anything’s ever dead in this in this chamber,” Hough said. “We have six weeks left, so I’m sure we’ll be having discussions about this.”