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By KIT WAGAR - The Kansas City Star
April 8, 2001  page B1

JEFFERSON CITY -- When gun control groups lined up last week to testify against a proposal to legalize concealed handguns in Missouri, it quickly became apparent just how outgunned they are in the General Assembly.

On the other hand, gun rights advocates mostly were greeted warmly by the House Committee on Sportsmanship, Safety and Firearms, which later voted 6-1 to send a bill to the House floor that would legalize concealed weapons.

Some legislators even found a way to claim victory from the statewide failure two years ago of Proposition B, the public vote on whether to legalize concealed guns.

"The vote was not necessarily a reflection of how people feel," said Rep. Wayne Crump, the Potosi Democrat who leads the firearms panel. "A lot of rural people thought they didn't have to vote because it was going to pass easily."

Committee members had a quick retort for nearly every point gun opponents made.

Beverly Miller, of the Southwest Missouri chapter of the Million Mom March, told the panel that concealed weapons would make guns more accessible to children and would further a culture of violence.

Crump replied that when he was a child, students brought their shotguns to school so they could hunt rabbits on the way home. 

Miller, a former teacher, said today's social problems make troubled teen-agers see guns as an option not for hunting, but for settling differences.

Rep. Mark Hampton, a Summersville Democrat and a former teacher, then replied that neither Colorado nor California allows unrestricted concealed weapons. But that has not stopped tragedy in the schools. Colorado was the site of the April 1999 shootings that left 15 dead at Columbine High School; California was the location of two recent school shootings.

When Miller said that adding a gun to a volatile situation can make the situation worse, Rep. Don Lograsso engaged her in a discussion of the Constitution and the need to be leery of government.

Lograsso, a Blue Springs Republican, asked whether Miller taught her students that the Second Amendment was adopted so the people could retain the ultimate power to overthrow their government.

The exchanges showed the many levels on which gun advocates from both parties dominate the legislature.

Sen. Ken Jacob, a Columbia Democrat and a longtime supporter of controls on handguns, contends the gun lobby achieved its dominance in the legislature by spending millions in a campaign aimed at rural voters on the issues of guns, abortion and the sending of money to urban schools. 

"No one is arguing you can't have guns," Jacob said. "But most people would agree there are certain places you shouldn't have one. Rural Missouri has been convinced that there is a plot in Jefferson City to take away their guns. But you won't see those ads in Kansas City or St. Louis."

Crump and House Speaker Jim Kreider, a Nixa Democrat, say they are merely representing their districts, which voted overwhelmingly in support of concealed weapons in 1999.

Crump said he tried to compromise with opponents by adding provisions that would prohibit the carrying of concealed guns into hospitals or into stadiums that hold more than 10,000 people. He also said he would not oppose a suggestion to require that people who hold permits to carry guns go through training every time they renew their permits.

But the bill that emerged from the committee also dropped his original idea to limit concealed weapons to people who could show a need to have them. And it does not include the requirement for updated training.

Mary Wertsch, executive director of Missourians Against Handgun Violence, based in St. Louis, said she understood how people in rural Missouri feel about the need to own guns. But the understanding has to go both ways, she said.

Proposition B won in 104 of the state's 114 counties. But the measure lost by wide margins in St. Louis, Kansas City and St. Louis County.

"Rural residents have to understand that when we voted down Proposition B, we did so for a reason," Wertsch said. "We have to respect rural rights to have rifles. But they need to accept our judgment about what it is like to live in a city and the suburbs. They have to respect our way of life, too."

To reach Kit Wagar, Jefferson City correspondent, call (816) 234-4440 or send e-mail to kwagar@kcstar.com.

All content © 2001 The Kansas City Star

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