Parade Shooting Brings Gun Reform

February 14^th, 2024, was supposed to be a celebratory day for Kansas City, Missouri. After all, natives filled the city streets celebrating their Kansas Chiefs’ 25-22 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Superbowl LVIII. The team’s third Super Bowl victory in four years, yet the celebration immediately turned into tragedy as just a few hours into the parade, the Kansas City Police Department reported fired shots during the parade. When it was all said and done, 22 people had been struck by bullets, with three people reportedly being in critical condition and one person dying because of the gunfire. This tragedy took place a year after another shooting during a championship parade when two people in Denver, Colorado, were struck by gunfire during the Denver Nuggets NBA championship parade. ¹

These multiple incidents have caused widespread reactions, with many debating the viability of large-scale public gatherings moving forward. Despite the tragedy, the legislative body in Missouri responded swiftly and immediately. Just five days after this event, the Missouri House of Representatives voted to ban celebratory gunfire. This is an enormous development, as the Republican party leads the Missouri House.  The party typically associated with firearm protections decided that some change needed to come from this horrible event.² The Missouri  lawmakers  voted 120-26 to make shooting a firearm within city limits a misdemeanor for the first offense.³ The bill is named after Blair Shanahan Lane, an 11-year-old girl who was killed in 2011 after being struck by a stray bullet.⁴ This issue in Kansas City was not a well-kept secret, as an article was published less than a month ago stating that celebratory gunfire after Chiefs games is getting worse.⁵ Meg Cunnigham, the article’s author, said, “Celebratory gunfire poses a problem for law enforcement and communities after big events, especially major holidays like New Year’s Eve or July 4. But in recent years, as the Chiefs have consistently had playoff successes, Kansas Citians increasingly point their firearms at the sky and shoot.”⁶

Despite the passage of this significant gun reform, lawmakers in Kansas City are not satisfied, as local politicians are continuing to push for stricter gun laws, especially within the city, as the town see its most significant number of homicides in 2023. Some have speculated that the City needs to gain some control before 2026, as it will be one of the American host cities to the FIFA World Cup. This speculation began after the Governor of Missouri, Mike Parson, spoke to reporters and said he thinks “’ Kansas City is one of the safest cities in the United States compared to some other World Cup host cities and major hubs like Chicago, New York, and Washington.”⁷

Despite the potential gun reform affecting public events, at least in Kansas City, if sports fans want to continue to celebrate their team’s success en masse immediately following a championship, something needs to change. Fans need to feel safe and not afraid of their lives during this time, as illustrated by these two events, along with other non-sports-related parade shootings like the shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, during Independence Day in July 2022.⁸ If events continue like this, more and more people will be less inclined to assemble in larger gatherings, even to celebrate a Super Bowl victory.

1. A Game, a Parade, a Shooting: The Story of America in Three Acts – The New York Times (nytimes.com) ↩︎
2. Missouri House votes to ban celebratory gunfire days after Chiefs’ parade shooting | AP News ↩︎
3. Id. ↩︎
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5. Celebratory gunfire is going up when the Kansas City Chiefs win (kcbeacon.org) ↩︎
6. Id. ↩︎
7. Missouri Democrats push for local control on gun measures (stltoday.com) ↩︎
8. Highland Park suspect Robert Crimo to represent himself at trial (nbcnews.com) ↩︎