ARMED CITIZENS DETER CRIME; WITH 35 STATES ALREADY POSSESSING CONCEALED WEAPONS LAWS WIMILAR TO LEGISLATION PENDING IN MISSOURI, THE EVIDENCE CONCLUSIVELY SUPPORTS PASSAGE OF THE BILL

As an attorney, it is important to know the notion of "burden of proof". Burden of proof is a two-fold concept. It includes the duty to come forward with evidence, and the duty to establish the truth of your position by a preponderance of the evidence. With 35 states already possessing concealed weapons laws similar to that pending in Missouri, the evidence conclusively supports passage of the bill.

First of all, we must clarify the current status of gun laws in the State of Missouri. Carrying a concealed weapon on or about your person is a felony. No permit exists that allows anyone to carry a concealed weapon. However, the legislature has excluded judges, law enforcement officers, wardens, military personnel on active duty and process servers from this law. The exceptions within the statute for the average law abiding citizen are limited to lawful transportation of unloaded or inaccessible firearms; possession of an additional exposed firearm in the pursuit of game; possession in your home or business over which you have possession, authority and control; or possession while travelling in a continual journey peaceably through this state.

I rather doubt Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle's comment that one can openly carry a pistol on your hip (Be Our Guest, April 7) would survive municipal ordinance scrutiny in Cape Girardeau or any other community.

The proposed legislation would allow those Missouri citizens of 21 years of age and older who are non-felons, non-mentally deranged, and non-alcoholic the right to petition their government for an exemption from the above statute. Proof must be shown that the applicant can demonstrate competence with the type of firearm for which the license is sought by completion of a safety course offered by an approved organization. And the applicant must be approved and certified by the local sheriff as not posing a risk to the community as based upon a specific fact concerning his past behavior.

The proposed legislation would not allow a person to "carry a concealed weapon almost anywhere", it must be shown that the applicant requires the license as part of his occupation, to insure his safety due to a specific circumstance or specific threat. Nor does the proposed overturn earlier statutes which respect the sanctity of churches, voting places, taverns, court houses and schools from the introduction of dangerous weapons.

As Thomas Jefferson once stated, (disarmament) "...affects only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes...such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man." The pending legislation clearly recognizes this principle.

Florida is one of the recent states to join the ranks of the 35 "concealed carry states". Prior to adoption of the law in October of 1987, newspaper editorials and letters similar to Mr. Swingle's admonitions predicted "itchy fingers, smoldering fear, pistol packing citizenry, wild west mentality, Dodge City and finally blood on the hands for those who vote for passage".

Notwithstanding these pleas to emotion, the law passed. As of February, 1992, over 116,533 applications have been received. Of the less than 10 percent that were denied the application, few were criminals and most were unable to complete the applications. Only 12 permits have been revoked after licensure due to a crime being committed by the permit holder with a firearm, not all were necessarily violent. This equates to .001 percent of those issued permits; hardly the wild, wild west. The consensus of opinion from all sources in Florida is the law is an unqualified success.

Over 60,000,000 gun owners live in our nation. About 1,000,000 of them use a gun to defend themselves against criminals every year or approximately 2,740 people a day use a gun in self-defense. Of the 1,000,000 times citizens use their guns to defend themselves every year, in 98 percent of these cases, the mere fact that the intended victim is armed scared off the attacker. In less than two percent of these incidents will a citizen wound or kill his or her attacker. The states which restrict ownership and especially the District of Columbia are virtually murder paradises.

Responsible firearms use as means of self-defense should come at no surprise for Missourians. A recent study conducted by the St. Louis University School of Law has found that armed citizens are exceedingly responsible in carrying hand guns in the street. The study found that while police were successful in shooting or driving off criminals in 68 percent of the incidents, private citizens succeeded in 83 percent of their encounters. Of far greater importance, while 11 percent of those shot by police were later found to be innocents, misidentified as criminals, only 2 percent of those shot by citizens were misidentified.

Additionally, the most recent National Crime Survey by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that in less than 1 percent of cases did criminals manage to turn guns against their owners. The track record of the private citizen is impressive. Florida is proof.

In the first three months in Dade County, one of the most violent counties in the State of Florida and in the United States, the gun permit law saw a six fold increase in gun permit holders and not one case of a gun permit holder committing an act of violence with a gun. State Representative Ron Silver, ardent Sarah Brady supporter and leader of opposition to the concealed weapons statute, admitted years after passage of the law that he was happy to say things were not worse and in fact the state was a safer place to live.

In fact, in the three years after passage the homicide rate fell six percent in Florida while the U.S. average rose 13 percent and all the time Florida was suffering from an increasingly violent drug plague. Since the Florida law was passed, Mississippi, Montana, Indiana and Oregon have passed similar legislation with similar results. Oregon saw a 32-percent drop in the first three years after easing carry laws and strengthening its criminal punishment system.

The chilling scenes of Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas, serve as a basis for those who would remove all guns from society. But on December 17, 1991, it was not reported on the evening news nor in the vast majority of the newspapers across the United States, that three gunmen had herded over 20 customers and employees into a walk-in refrigerator at a Shoney's in Anniston, Alabama. This was done with the apparent intent to rob the victims and kill them. One customer, Mr. Thomas Terry, eluded the gunman and concealed his whereabouts. Mr. Terry was armed. He encountered and killed one gunman, critically wounded the other, and sent the third fleeing. The Alabama law, unlike the Texas law, permits a law-abiding citizen to carry a concealed weapon.

I have personal knowledge that when the authorities apprehend the criminals, when Mr. Swingle and his local counterparts prosecute them and when local judges rule upon their punishment, the criminals are dealt with swiftly and receive the full measure of punishment due them for their acts. However, no citizen can abdicate his or her own personal responsibility to defend and promote public safety. To wait for the criminal justice system to react, encounter, and defend your rights as a victim may prove costly. No matter how good our police are, they can't be at all places at all times.

Personal safety, family safety and public safety, like our own personal freedoms, have a costly price achieved only by eternal vigilance. If you share my support for this bill, please write or call Senator John Dennis at (314) 751-2455 at the State Capitol in Jefferson City, MO 65101

Pat Davis is an attorney with the law firm Finch, Bradshaw, Strom and Steele.