Jean Kuczka, 61, had coached hundreds of students over the years and was looking forward to retirement. Alexzandria Bell, 15, was looking forward to traveling to Los Angeles to celebrate her sweet 16th birthday.

Kuczka and Bell both died on Oct. 24, 2022, after being shot in St. Louis’ Central Visual and Performing Arts High School by a mentally ill former student. The student, Orlando Harris, 19, also wounded nine others in the school with an AR-15-style rifle before he was killed by police.

Any death is tragic, but these three were especially so because they were foreseeable and preventable. But Missouri’s retrograde gun laws — especially its lack of a commonsense red flag law — ensured they couldn’t be prevented.

It’s a situation the state Legislature could remedy right now, by implementing a law allowing temporary emergency removal of weapons from those displaying signs of mental illness. Instead, incredibly, legislation pending this session would preemptively prevent such a law from being passed or enforced.

It’s not a stretch to say that Kuczka and Bell would both likely be alive today had Missouri had such a law on the books.

Harris’ mental state had so deteriorated that nine days before the shooting, his mother called police and asked them to take her son’s rifle from him. Had they lived nearby in Illinois, a court could have issued an emergency order temporarily seizing the weapon pending a fitness hearing under that state's red flag law.

Instead, police here could do nothing but ask another family member to voluntarily take the gun out of Harris' home. It was the same gun Harris would soon regain and use to end two lives and forfeit his own.

It’s no coincidence that Missouri has among the highest firearms death rates of any state and also has among the most lax gun laws. It wasn’t just the lack of a red flag law that helped cause this school shooting — but it’s one law that might easily have prevented it.

Unlike Illinois and many other states, Missouri doesn’t require a criminal background check for gun purchases between individuals. It doesn’t require training or a license to possess one. It doesn’t even require a permit to carry one in public.

Such laxity of other gun laws makes establishment of a red flag law that much more imperative. Not only did the police who were called by Harris’ mother have no option to seek emergency removal of the weapon based on his signs of mental illness, they couldn’t even ask to see a license or permit. None is needed in Missouri.

More than 20 states currently have red flag laws, including such bright red states as Indiana and Florida. Indeed, former Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, a staunchly pro-gun Republican, was part of a bipartisan effort during the Biden administration to encourage states to implement red flag laws.

That’s because even gun enthusiasts will generally agree with the premise that mental illness and firearms don’t mix. Poll after national poll has shown heavy majorities of Americans — even Republicans; even gun owners — favor red flag laws. One 2023 survey by, of all sources, Fox News, put that support at 80% of all Americans and 76% of all gun owners.

Yet here in the Show-Me State, the Republican supermajority in Jefferson City has become so radicalized on the issue of firearms that some are now sponsoring legislation that would declare, in essence, that no one is too mentally ill to carry around a loaded gun.

That’s crazy. But until our state’s voters call out such extremism, there will be more preventable tragedies like the deaths of Kuczka and Bell.

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