PROPOSITION B: SHOULD VOTERS ALLOW CONCEALED WEAPONS?; WHY I OPPOSE CONCEALED WEAPONS (CON)

A few years ago a dentist was riding his bicycle on a blacktop road in Cape Girardeau County when a motorist passed him. Too closely, the dentist thought. Human nature being what it is, the dentist blessed the motorist with an obscene gesture. The driver immediately pulled over and jumped from his car, armed with a tire tool. The dentist leaped off his bicycle and brandished it as a weapon. They proceeded to have a tire tool-bicycle fight. Both are still alive today. Had they been carrying concealed weapons, their fight would have been more lethal.

In 1988 a Cape Girardeau County man was on his way home when someone cut him off in traffic. Irritated, he gave a one-finger salute. The driver of the other car began tailgating him, waving a handgun, following him home. As the man with the dirty finger ran up his driveway, the man with the itchy finger shot holes into the side of his victim's home, one bullet narrowly missing a wife and child inside. The shooter later pleaded guilty to unlawful use of a weapon.

In 1989 a Cape Girardeau County lawyer was slapped in the parking lot at the Show Me Center after a traffic fender-bender. In 1993 a different Cape Girardeau County lawyer slapped a teenager after the teenager made an obscene gesture to him following a near fender-bender. The lawyer later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault.

After 16 years as a prosecutor, I have a perspective of human nature unavailable to most citizens. I have prosecuted more than 40 people for homicide and more than 1,000 people for assault. The people committing these acts of violence come from all walks of life and all levels of education.

I can tell you without doubt that you should not want more people on the streets and in the buildings of Cape Girardeau County carrying concealed weapons. If carried concealed they will eventually be used. The fender-benders and road rage incidents now producing fist fights will produce gun fights. Arguments now ending with bruised feelings, knuckles and noses will instead conclude with body bags.

Human nature causes people to do stupid and reckless acts, to say thoughtless and ugly things. When a fight starts, human nature causes a person to want to win it. If fists are all one has, the fight will be a fist fight. If knives are available, it will be a knife fight. If guns are handy, it will be a gun fight.

What I know from experience is backed up by recent statistics. Violent crime is falling nationwide. It is falling faster, though, in states like Missouri, which prohibit the carrying of concealed weapons. From 1992 to 1997, states with strict prohibitions against carrying concealed weapons had a 24.8 percent reduction in violent crime (Missouri's was 22 percent), compared to an 11.4 percent drop in states with lax restrictions upon carrying concealed weapons.

You simply do not make the community safer by putting more hidden guns in public places.

This is recognized by insurance companies. Small business owners are going to face potential civil liability suits when shootings occur on their premises. Realizing this, State Farm Insurance Co. announced in 1997 that it will not write an insurance policy or continue an existing policy if the company becomes aware that a firearm is present. The liability is simply "too great to underwrite."

Under current Missouri law, it is legal 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.

It would prohibit carrying a concealed weapon into a church, school, election precinct, federal building, state government building, county government building or city government building, but would allow them to be carried concealed anywhere else, including outdoor football, soccer or baseball games; school parking lots or anywhere else outside the school buildings; banks; hospitals and emergency rooms; parks, museums, zoos and concert halls; shopping malls; day-care centers; bars, nightclubs and restaurants; or into any home or place of business.

Only in places where the proprietor had posted a sign forbidding concealed weapons would they be prohibited. For the first two violations, the penalty for the concealed-weapon toter would be merely an infraction punishable by a small fine.

The biggest loophole in the law is that it requires the sheriff to issue a permit unless he can prove the person has a felony conviction or is mentally incompetent. The sheriff has no discretion. Known misdemeanor assault perpetrators who have gone five years without assaulting someone must be issued a permit to carry a concealed weapon. Known misdemeanor child molesters who have gone five years without a new conviction must be issued a permit. Known stalkers who have been following a victim but have not yet made a specific threat to do harm must be issued a permit. Known gang members who have not been known personally to commit a violent act must be issued a permit to carry a concealed weapon. The proposed law is riddled with loopholes like this that will allow potentially dangerous people to carry concealed weapons.

My father was a Missouri state trooper from 1939 to 1964. I grew up watching him strap on his gun when he left the house. He, though, had a duty to serve and protect. I am concerned about the message we will be sending our children if this law passes and they see their parents -- bankers, salesmen, teachers, dentists, plumbers -- strapping on concealed weapons before going to work. This is not the way we should want to live. We need fewer concealed weapons in public places, not more.

Morley Swingle is the prosecuting attorney for Cape Girardeau County.