THE PUBLIC MIND: CONCEALED WEAPONS LAW NEEDS MORE RESEARCH, THOUGHT

Dear Editor:

On Christmas Eve, 1875, a hastily assembled city council in Dodge City, Kan., responding to the chaos in the community, passed the frontier village's first ordinances, including one that read: "That no person shall in the city of Dodge City carry concealed about his or her person any pistol, Bowie knife, slingshot or other deadly weapon except United States, county, township or city officers."

The syntax wasn't great but the intent was clear. The move by the city fathers was typical of most frontier cow and mining towns, from Abilene to Wichita to Dodge to Tombstone. The only people who could legally carry firearms, in the open or concealed, were law enforcement officers (never mind how movies and TV picture it). This raises a noteworthy point on the current effort to legalize the carrying of concealed firearms in Missouri: If by 1875 the Dodge City officials had enough sense to understand that you couldn't maintain law and order if you allowed celebrating trail herd drivers in town with sixguns on their hips, it hardly seems a giant step forward to encourage the populace to arm itself in public now.

Has crime gotten so bad in the small towns across Missouri that we need half the people carrying pistols to protect themselves? Are we saying our police forces are that impotent?

I'm not familiar with the state's gun laws but I suspect anyone making late-night bank deposits can obtain a permit to carry a pistol, at least in his/her car. Who else might need one? How many of us are ever going to be confronted with armed gunmen, night or day, in cities the size of Cape Girardeau? Or any other town in Missouri, for that matter, except for certain parts of St. Louis and Kansas City?

Granted, if I were driving through East St. Louis late at night I might feel better if I were armed. Simpler, though, to stay out of East St. Louis at night, or days for that matter, and out of the drug-ridden neighborhoods of St. Louis and Kansas City where one might feel threatened.

What are these concealed-weapon proponents saying? Do they fantasize about shooting to death would-be robbers? What would they do, drive through rough urban neighborhoods looking for an opportunity to gun down a thug banging on their car window at a traffic light?

OK, let's say there is a one in one million chance that some night, walking to my car after a Cardinals game, that I might be confronted by a mugger wielding a switchblade and demanding my wallet. Do I want that man's life on my conscience, or would I rather give him the $20 in my wallet and take a chance the police might be able to find and arrest him?

Maybe I'd rather fight him. So I'm fumbling for the .357 Magnum in the shoulder holster under my windbreaker, the four pounds of metal and leather that's been chafing my underarm all night, and dreaming of the moment when I can jerk it and snarl, "All right, buddy, make my day...."?

How many times is he going to plunge that knife into my belly before I can draw and shoot?

We live in the country, without close neighbors. Our house was burglarized recently. I have been thinking of buying a pistol in case those guys come back some night while I'm home. I don't need a concealed-weapon law for that, though. In fact, the shotgun I already own might do the trick.

A recent wire service story said Missouri sheriffs stand to make $3 million yearly by issuing $100 permits for concealed weapons. That indicates we can expect about 30,000 people to receive permits to carry concealed weapons. But maybe the number will be double that. Or triple. How many people do we really want running around carrying pistols under their jackets?

And when we aren't wearing jackets, do we carry them in the open then? Isn't that going to be a bit embarrassing? What do you do when you grow tired of wearing it at the office, hang it over the back of your chair? What's to prevent somebody, a child perhaps, from walking by and suddenly getting the desire to play cops and robbers with a loaded Magnum .44?

I'm not so worried about the guy next to me at Burger King, but I might be if we're in the lobby of an urban bank that already has been robbed a time or two and has a couple of jittery armed guards standing around.

You can make up as many scenarios as you like. I don't see many happy endings. This doesn't sound like a law that's being passed to meet a pressing community need. It sounds more like the old American obsession with the right to bear arms, as interpreted by the American Rifle Association, the same fellas who wanted to give us ammunition that would pierce a police officer's bullet-proof vest.

All right, we are told 30 or 40 other states already have such laws. Maybe they do work, but what is the need? Before this law is enacted, I'd like to see some serious research done. What kind of laws are actually in place? Do they indeed allow concealed or open weapons in public? What has been the impact? How many people are taking advantage of the law? Has any armed civilian actually used his piece to prevent a crime from being committed?

I suggest we listen to people such as Prosecutor Morley Swingle and others in law enforcement. Put this thing on hold, let's have some town meetings, let's think and talk about this a bit longer. Do we feel so threatened that we have to rush this through?

If this law is passed, the first thing I'm going to do is apply for a permit, pay the $100, take the firearms course. If the drunk who bangs into my car at a traffic light is going to be armed when we discuss who's at fault, I want a gun too.

Since~rely,

~Bill Zellmer

Cape Girardeau