'Patchwork' effort spreads hidden guns

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Roughly one-fourth of Missouri counties are accepting applications for concealed-gun permits, one month after a complex state Supreme Court ruling gave local sheriffs grounds both for implementing or ignoring the contentious new law.

The Feb. 26 ruling upheld the legality of concealed weapons but declared the law could unconstitutionally require new duties of counties without adequately covering their costs.

Attorney General Jay Nixon quickly urged counties to wait for a legislative solution, warning a "patchwork" of enforcement could otherwise result. But legislative leaders are in no hurry to change the law's funding mechanism, and Nixon's words have proved prophetic.

At the start of business Friday, the Missouri State Highway Patrol had received 1,262 requests for fingerprint background checks for concealed-gun applications submitted by law enforcement offices in 27 of Missouri's 114 counties and the city of St. Louis.

The number of actual applicants likely is higher, because many counties mail ink-on-paper fingerprint cards -- instead of electronically submitting them -- resulting in a lag time. The patrol does not track how many permits have been issued, which is a decision made by local sheriffs after receiving the background check information, said patrol spokesman Capt. Chris Ricks.

Marion County Sheriff John Waldschlager was among those still heeding Nixon's wait-and-see advice on Friday. But Waldschlager does not plan to wait indefinitely.

"I support the law, I'm anxious to get started, but I'm going to take the advice of the attorney general and wait for the legislature to hopefully correct it this session," said Waldschlager, adding that he planned to reassess his decision after the legislature's May 14 adjournment, if not sooner.

"It would be nice if we could all be on the same page," Waldschlager said, "and it would have helped too if the Supreme Court could have been more clear. They had to know this would have muddied the waters further."

The Supreme Court's ruling said that just four counties did not have to implement the law, because trial court testimony had been presented about their costs. But three of those counties -- Camden, Cape Girardeau and Greene -- have implemented the law anyway, while dozens of others have cited the ruling as a reason for joining Jackson County in holding off.

At issue is a requirement for sheriffs to collect a fee of up to $100, which the law directs into a local fund that can be used only on equipment and training. The Supreme Court said that violated the unfunded mandate provision of the Hancock Amendment to the Missouri Constitution, because the fee could not be used to pay the patrol's $38 fingerprint charge or for sheriff's personnel costs.

Pettis County Sheriff Gary Starke, like some others, has gotten around the ruling by requiring applicants to write two checks -- one for $38 payable directly to the patrol for the fingerprint analysis; the other a $50 fee made out to the sheriff's office.

An adamant concealed guns supporter, Starke said the new law is easy to implement.

"It's a minimal amount of work," he said. "It's not created any undue strain on our resources or anything, and we're short-handed."

But officials in Buchanan County have refused to take applications, precisely because of the feared strain on its staff and budget.

Sheriff's Lt. Ed Row, the administrator of Buchanan County's concealed-guns program, estimated it could cost $150 to $200 to handle each concealed-gun application. He cited the fingerprinting fee; the possibility of sheriff's deputies personally tracking down applicants' neighbors or relatives to verify information; the creation of both a computer and paper record-keeping system; and the purchase of office supplies.

Although Row is logistically ready to implement the law, there is no start date to do so.

"Some sheriffs' departments have come up with money," Row said. "We've been told by our county commissioners we don't have the money and they're not going to put up the money for it."