MEASURE BRINGS OUT DIVIDED OPINIONS (PROP B: HIT OR MISS?) (FIRST IN A SERIES)

Martha Hamilton saw the wrong end of a gun.

On Dec. 30, 1985, she was shot in the abdomen during an armed robbery at a Cape Girardeau laundromat.

Hamilton wasn't armed. Thirteen years later, she insists she wouldn't have fared better if she had been carrying a concealed weapon.

Hamilton, who owns a Cape Girardeau real estate company, opposes the statewide April ballot measure that would give residents the right to carry concealed guns.

"In the circumstance where I was robbed at gun point, a concealed weapon would not have done me any good whatsoever," she said.

Hamilton owned SEMO Laundromat. She was locking the doors to the laundromat on North Pacific around 9 p.m. when a man attempted to rob her.

She screamed. The robber fired one shot from a .25-caliber handgun, wounding Hamilton.

"He was so close I had powder burns on my coat," she recalled.

The man then grabbed her purse and ran out the door. He fired a shot in the direction of her brother and 14-year-old son who were in the parking lot.

Two brothers, Shon and Clarence Sampson of Cape Girardeau, were arrested and convicted. Shon Sampson pulled the trigger.

Shortly after the robbery, Hamilton and her husband sold the laundromat.

Hamilton doesn't feel concealed weapons will save lives.

She argues that legalizing concealed guns could lead to more accidental shootings.

"I know people who have carried guns and shot themselves in the foot," said Hamilton.

The Cape Girardeau woman said she isn't opposed to guns. "I already own a gun."

But she said a concealed gun won't stop a determined robber.

"What I try to do is avoid circumstances where I might need a gun," said Hamilton. "I think most people with common sense do."

But at Shooters Gun Shop in Cape Girardeau, sentiments are solidly behind Proposition B, the concealed weapons measure.

A pile of literature supporting the April ballot measure is stacked on the counter.

Customer Albert "Mick" Moody of Caruthersville stopped by the gun shop this week.

Moody, who works as a postal carrier in Portageville, plans to vote for the "right to carry" measure.

Moody said the measure won't increase gun violence.

"It doesn't turn people loose with a gun. It's not Dodge City," he said.

Missourians, he said, would have to pass criminal background checks and take a firearms training course before being issued permits to carry concealed guns.

Moody said Missourians should be able to carry concealed weapons to protect their families and themselves.

Although the general public can't legally carry concealed weapons, many do, he said.

Moody said he personally knows people who carry concealed weapons in the glove compartments of their cars.

Criminals, he said, are more afraid of armed citizens than they are of the police.

"It may stop a confrontation," Moody said.

Other states allow citizens to carry concealed weapons. Such laws haven't caused a blood bath, he said.

Ben Ritter, who manages Shooters, also favors Proposition B.

Small handguns are the easiest to conceal. Such handguns can cost anywhere from $200 to $600, he said.

Ritter said opponents fears are unwarranted. Last year, Ritter lived in Florida, a state that allows residents to carry concealed weapons.

In Florida, gun clubs provide handgun training for a fee of $35 to $50, Ritter said.

He said Florida's residents seem to have accepted the law. "I never heard a peep about it," he said.

Some of Ritter's customers already have bought handguns in anticipation that Proposition B will pass.

If it doesn't pass, those customers say they will just keep their guns at home, Ritter said.