JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Legislature passed two dozen bills this week, adding to a long list of legislation that could be heading to the governor’s desk by the end of the legislative session.

On the House side, lawmakers passed a total of 22 bills this week, with measures ranging from school safety and initiative petition reform to abortion and gun rights. All passed, some with total consent and others along party lines.

The debate on the abortion bill was lengthy and heated as was the floor consideration for House Bill 1175, which establishes the Second Amendment Preservation Act.

“Most Republicans are owned by guns,” Rep. Jeremy Dean, D-Springfield, said during debate on the House floor.

“The Second Amendment is constantly under attack,” said Rep. Jim Murphy, R-St. Louis County.

“Guns don’t kill people,” he added. “Criminals kill people.”

Murphy said that while it’s not a perfect bill, he expects the measure to be “fixed” in the Senate before coming back to the House.

That bill passed along party lines.

Democrat Minority Leader Rep. Ashley Aune, D-Kansas City, pointed to some of the bills as Republicans undoing “the will” of the voters.

“Whether it’s on abortion or paid sick leave and minimum wage, the first order of business this year has been to undo what Missourians went to the ballot box to vote for,” Aune said.

“To see the majority party, the super majority party, just running roughshod over the voters of this state is disappointing,” she said. “And it’s certainly not what most folks expect from their elected officials.”

Meanwhile, Aune’s GOP colleague, Speaker Jon Patterson, said he has been impressed by what the General Assembly has done so far this session.

“I’m very pleased with the way things are going,” Rep. Patterson, a Republican from the Kansas City area, said.

Patterson said the efficient nature of this session is mainly because of Gov. Mike Kehoe’s leadership.

“The way that he’s been leading from the top, going around and seeing all the members,” Patterson said. “The fact that we passed those two bills before spring break I think really was because of him and his will and his efforts.”

“The Mike Kehoe that we voted for is the Mike Kehoe that we’re getting,” he said. “I think that’s great.”

The Missouri Senate also passed legislation of their own. Two bills passed this week, one that would allow the Missouri Farm Bureau to sell health insurance to its members and another aimed at countering foreign influence in state and local elections.