ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - In order to reduce gun deaths in St. Louis, the mayor is asking Jefferson City to let him set the city’s gun laws.

Currently, the state sets gun laws which apply to every city and county. That’s where Mayor Francis Slay says the problem is.

“We should get the state of Missouri to give Kansas City and St. Louis and any other city that wants to be part of it, the ability to pass their own gun regulation and gun control laws,” he said.

Slay says rural Missourians are worried about protecting their right to hunt and shoot for sport and that’s hampering St. Louis’ ability to restrict guns for safety purposes. “We have different issues than the…suburban areas and different issues than they have out in the rural areas.”

He says St. Louis needs to ban high capacity magazines, restrict the number and types of guns people can have, and set higher bonds and harsher penalties for those convicted of gun crimes.

As for the odds of getting his proposal passed in Jefferson City, Slay says it “isn’t going to be easy.”

“Of course, we have a state that is very rural-minded,” he said.