BE OUR GUEST

H. Morley Swingle is a resident of Cape Girardeau and prosecuting attorney of Cape Girardeau County.

The Missouri General Assembly is in the process of making a horrible mistake. I know, I know, what else is new. The problem is that this time it is a life and death issue. If you don't stop them they are going to pass legislation that will allow virtually anyone to carry concealed weapons. I believe the bill will increase the level of violence on our streets and in our public places. I believe the legislators who vote for this bill will end up with the blood of innocent Missourians on their hands.

Under current law, it is legal in Missouri to carry a gun openly. It is generally illegal, though, for anyone other than a police officer to carry one concealed. In other words, you cannot have a gun hidden in a shoulder-holster under your coat, but you can wear one openly in a holster on your leg. The proposed law would allow people to carry concealed weapons almost anywhere.

The argument made by proponents of the bill sounds attractive at first. They say: "Criminals break the law and carry concealed weapons. This bill is just to let honest people carry them, too." The argument is specious, though. Before joining the stampede to agree with it, ask yourself a few questions:

1. Do you want to take your children to lunch at Burger King, knowing that each person in the room twenty-one years old or older might well be sitting there with a .357 Magnum in his pocket?

2. Do you want to get out of your car after having a fenderbender with some loudmouth, and argue with him over whose fault it was, only to discover well into the heated conversation that he has a loaded Smith & Wesson five inches from his h~and?

3. Do you want to take your kids for a stroll in Capaha Park to visit the lagoon and feed the ducks, knowing that there are dozens of loaded and hidden guns being carried in the park that very second?

4. Do you wan~t children who are the classmates of your children watching their parents strap on concealed weapons every morning, learning by example that carrying a concealed weapon is the way to live in our society and is something that should be done?

5. In this time of increased risk of children becoming involved in illegal drugs and gang violence, do you want to send the message to them that the answer is to put more hidden weapons on the streets?

6. As for people who daydream about shooting someone, who fantasize about pulling the trigger and taking a life and they are out there, I assure you do you want to make it legal for them to carry concealed weapons, so they can walk around waiting for someone to "make my day!"

I believe we will see additional handgun deaths if this law is passed.

We will see arguments in the streets that are currently fist fights becoming gun fights.

We will see little old ladies armed with handguns and false senses of safety dying by those very guns after they have been wrested away from them.

We will see innocent bystanders killed when people on parking lots get into arguments that escalate into scenes from "Miami Vice."

We will see a teen-age jogger shot by a nervous citizen who thinks the person running up behind him is a mugger.

We will see civilians packing guns shot by criminals who are better shots and are less hesitant to shoot in a gun fight.

We will see fewer criminals being convicted for carrying concealed weapons. For example, in a famous Supreme Court case, Terry v. Ohio, a police officer saw a man walking back and forth in front of a jewelry store, obviously preparing to rob it. The policeman approached the man, frisked him, and found a loaded handgun. The case is famous because it established the right of a police officer to "stop and frisk" upon reasonable suspicion. What people forget, though, is that Terry was not convicted of robbery, but of carrying a concealed weapon. He could not have been convicted of anything but for the carrying concealed weapon law.

For those who say the law has plenty of safeguards, because criminals won't be allowed to carry the guns concealed, I remind them that a person isn't a criminal until ~he has already been caught once. Until once caught, criminals will be able to carry hidden guns legally.

So far, Missouri legislators think everyone is behind this bill. It passed the house 124 to 24, with supporters bragging that no one had voiced any opposition. How could there have been significant opposition? Even most prosecutors and law enforcement officials didn't know about this bill until after the vote because it came in the form of an amendment tacked onto a bill at the last minute. This prescription for murder can still be killed in the Senate, but there is not much time. If you share my concern about this bill, please write or call Senator John Dennis (314-751-2455), Representative Mary Kasten (314-751-2459), and Representative David Schwab (314-751-6662), all at the State Capitol, Jefferson City, MO 65101.