The Democrat mayor of St. Louis has found herself in hot water after a court filing successfully obtained her private text messages.
In public, Democratic St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones is well known for promoting strict gun control laws.
Behind closed doors, Jones believes something entirely different. She privately contradicted herself and bashed gun laws for being ineffective.
Writing in a group chat, Jones said, “Chicago has strict gun laws as well but that doesn’t deter gun violence.”
In the state of Missouri, the Sunshine Act allows the public to receive open records of communications from governmental bodies and officials. A court filing obtained Jones’ text messages to create more transparency for Americans.
The Sunshine Act requires that public governmental bodies keep their records open to the public, except for records that are specifically exempted by law.
These contradictory statements from Jones have sparked a significant backlash as her office enters into “damage control mode.”
In the wake of a recent mass shooting that killed one person and injured eleven others, Jones publicly demanded stricter gun laws.
Private text messages of St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones released by court order | via Fox News Digital
At the time, Jones said, “Our state’s lax gun laws make our challenge even more difficult. The legislature’s lack of action on gun safety laws encourages the proliferation of guns on our streets and puts our responding officers directly in harm’s way.”
Going even further, Jones declared June 3rd as “Gun Violence Awareness Day.” She argued the state “must protect our families” by “expanding background checks to all gun sales, regulating assault weapons, and passing a federal red flag law.”
Another text message, Jones noted how multiple major cities with similar demographics to St. Louis have fewer murders.
“Newark, NJ has the same size population, same size police force, and similar racial demographics, yet had 50 murders in 2022,” she privately said.
“I visited these programs first hand and I know that they work,” she said in reference to programs that help curb gun violence. “We just need the will.”
St. Louis recorded 200 homicides in 2022, 201 in 2021, and 263 in 2020, according to data published by the St. Louis Police Department. The city often has one of the highest murder rates in the nation, alongside cities such as Chicago and Baltimore.
As her office is scrambling, Jones’ spokesman now claims that stronger gun laws are just “one part of the solution.”
“Gun laws are just one part of the solution,” Jones spokesman Nick Desideri said.
“There’s a difference between deterring behavior and making it harder to get firearms and weaponry; for example, there’s no doubt that gun laws in the blue region around Newark help reduce violence as opposed to here,” he added.
