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Bootheel Resident Files Suit Over Digital Copies

A lawsuit has been filed in the Missouri Bootheel accusing the state of wrongfully requiring digital copies of vital records. 

The plaintiff, Eric Griffin of Stoddard County, was seeking a conceal/carry endorsement.  He says officials at his local license fee office told him that in order to receive it, his application, birth certificate and residency documents would have to be digitally scanned and stored by the state Department of Revenue. 

Missouri Lt. Governor Peter Kinder says any license fee office that makes that demand is breaking the law:

“The legislature faced an option 10 years ago on passage of the right to carry law – will we have a ‘may issue’ law, or will we have a ‘shall issue’ law.  Ours is a ‘shall issue,’ it’s a mandate,” says Kinder.

Also on Monday, a Stoddard County Circuit judge issued a restraining order, blocking the local license fee office there from scanning documents of conceal/carry applicants. 

A spokesman for the Department of Revenue says the agency is following the law.

Marshall Griffin is the Statehouse reporter for St. Louis Public Radio.
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