The Missouri legislative session that ended Friday started out as a disaster in the making, with a raft of outrageous bills that never deserved serious consideration. The final results of the session, however, were nowhere near as bad as they could have been if the radicals' agenda had prevailed. That's not to suggest that some really bad legislation didn't come out of the session, only that it could have been much worse.

On the positive side, lawmakers failed to reach agreement on separate bills to meddle directly in the criminal justice system in St. Louis. One bill sought a partial state takeover of St. Louis criminal prosecution amid the implosion of Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner's management. Luckily, she announced her resignation before the session ended, removing the main impetus driving that bill.

The Legislature also couldn't agree on a bill for the state to take over the St. Louis police department as a way of cracking down on local crime. Critics were quick to note that if state control was so great, why hasn't the state-managed Kansas City police department shown greater success than St. Louis in combating major crime?

On the negative side, lawmakers imposed severe restrictions on doctors and parents to seek medical treatment for minors experiencing gender dysphoria. The sad result is that many families will be forced to move out of state to get the care their transgender children need.

Among other positives: Lawmakers decided against a proposed statewide ballot item to make it harder to amend the state constitution. The measure came in anticipation of efforts to put forth a constitutional guarantee of abortion rights, which seems almost certain to pass if the majority of Missourians are allowed a say.

In past sessions, any bill that threatened to curtail the ability of gun owners to pull triggers and make bullets fly would have been dead on arrival. But in a miraculous demonstration of common sense, lawmakers approved a measure that actually restricts gun rights when it comes to people engaging in celebratory gunfire. The problem with bullets fired skyward is that they always come back down and, occasionally, kill or maim people in the process. One such victim was 11-year-old Blair Lane of Kansas City, who died from a celebratory gunfire bullet on July 4, 2011, in Kansas City.

Lawmakers also correctly recognized they were making a big deal out of nothing when they tried but failed to pass a bill further limiting the amount of Missouri land that foreigners may own. The bill was supposed to address supposed security risks from Chinese-owned companies. Such risk assessments are better left to the federal government, which is far more attuned to what the Chinese government is up to and, apparently, doesn't see the threat of a Communist takeover just because a Chinese corporation owns a bunch of smelly pig farms.

REPRINTED FROM THE ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

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