JEFFERSON CITY - The Missouri House on Wednesday approved legislation that would allow residents to keep a firearm concealed within the passenger compartment of their vehicles.

The bill was approved 104-46, despite a 90-minute debate that ranged from impassioned pleas about the danger to children to open ridicule of the bill's supporters.

Proponents argued that the bill allowed law-abiding people to protect themselves and their families from would-be attackers. The ability to conceal a gun within a car is especially important to women, they said.

Republican Rep. Beth Long of Lebanon told a story about a woman whose car was intentionally bumped. When the woman got out of the car, she was attacked and killed.

"People out there who are just waiting for a victim might think twice if that lady" had defended herself by carrying a gun in the car, Long said."This is not about conceal-and-carry. This is about protection."

Opponents said state law already allowed the public to carry a gun in their car or truck as long as it is in plain sight. Rep. Tim Van Zandt, a Kansas City Democrat, said that that law offered people more protection than a gun hidden under the seat.

"If you put that big honking gun in your window, they aren't going to bump your car," Van Zandt said.

The bill, which goes to the Senate, would allow anyone to conceal a gun under the car seat or in the glove compartment. The bill also would allow retired police officers who had served for at least 15 years to apply for permits to carry concealed weapons.

A third provision, known as Project Exile, would require authorities to seek the most severe penalty possible for firearm offenses under either state or federal law.

Critics argued that the bill was a step toward allowing the public to carry concealed weapons on the street. They said the issue already was settled by Proposition B, the 1999 ballot measure that would have legalized concealed weapons. The referendum failed, 52 percent to 48 percent.

Several supporters said that Proposition B won a majority in 104 of the state's 114 counties, but overwhelming opposition in urban areas overrode the rural support.

Van Zandt said gun advocates just couldn't accept the public's decision.

"That has been the biggest burr under your saddle," Van Zandt said. "You supporters have been yipping and yapping about this since 1999. It didn't pass. Get over it."

Rep. Joan Bray, a St. Louis County Democrat, said the bill was more dangerous than Proposition B because it would allow a person without firearms training to carry a concealed gun in a car.

Other critics said gun advocates would be back next year trying to get concealed guns into "schools, malls, churches and stadiums." They said a gun carried openly on the seat was more protection than a hidden gun the owner has to dig for.

Supporters, who hooted at many of their opponents' arguments, said a gun on a car seat invited thieves to break in.

Rep. Chuck Purgason, a Caulfield Republican, said the bill would make the law safer for children. A woman could put her gun in the glove compartment, he said, rather than leave it on the seat where a child could grab it.