From: dbetz@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Drew Betz)
Subject: Story behind Missouri CCW bill
Organization: SigSauer Fan Club 
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1992 19:18:02 GMT
Keyword: Missouri CCW bill, history of 

                 Second Amendment Activists on the Attack:
           An Account of Missouri's Concealed Carry Legislation

Copyright 1992 by Brad Alpert

The seeming inability of liberals to rationally and effectively address the
problem of crime has led the Democratic Party seriously astray. Conservatives
can only gape at Democratic "anti-crime" proposals which focus on "racially-
balanced, equal-opportunity executions", early-release into the community of
violent, multiple-offenders, opposition both to effective bail reform and the
building of more prisons coupled with their support for expanded probation
and parole services for perpetrators of serious felonies as an "alternative"
to incarceration.

The relentless irrationality of the left-liberal wing is nowhere so clearly
demonstrated as in the area of gun control. Heartened by the near-passage of
the Brady bill last year and confiscatory gun schemes in states on both
coasts, the Democrats have gone beyond the pale of sanity in the District of
Columbia, where last year a liability ordinance was passed which holds fire-
arms manufacturers and dealers responsible for the ultimate misuse of guns
that wind up in the District. The early results of this new law are in: While
the murder rate in D.C. continues to climb, several firearms manufacturers
are now refusing to allow their products to be sold to Capitol guards, the
D.C. Police Department, and the various M.P. detachments who carry sidearms.

This is the Democratic Party's approach to crime control: When faced with the
utter and abysmal failure of D.C.'s 1977 ban on the possession of handguns
(the murder rate has risen there in nearly every year since), they passed a
law which prevents manufacturers from selling their products to the various
police and military organizations which need them to function. Smart, eh?

Thus the news that Missouri House Democrats Doug Harpool (Springfield)and Joe
Driskill (Doniphan) have coordinated their efforts on behalf of enacting
legislation which will allow law-abiding citizens to legally carry concealed
weapons in defense of their personal safety is mind-boggling in the extreme!
Following is a brief history of this momentous legislation.

Approximately two years ago, the Board of Directors of the Western Missouri
Shooters' Alliance undertook to get "legal carry" on the books in Missouri.
This organization - a regional grass-roots Second Amendment activist group
which functions autonomously - is fueled by twenty dollar annual membership
fees and contributions from Missouri gun owners who are interested in preser-
ving for posterity the protection offered by the Second Amendment. None of
the board members was especially knowledgeable or sophisticated with respect
to the "hows" of getting legislation introduced into - let alone, passed by
- the Missouri legislature, but enthusiasm and commitment sustained what
seemed to be, at times, an utterly Quixotic quest.

From the beginning, the effort ran on a shoestring. Early steps taken on its
behalf were wobbly and uncertain; initial conceptions as to the probability
of the bill's passage were pessimistic. Many felt that merely getting the
bill introduced and debated on the floor of the Democratic-controlled
statehouse would represent a grass-roots victory.

Initial attempts to secure support from NRA were fruitless. WMSA's Board was
given to believe that its efforts were not being taken seriously. In discus-
sions with sympathetic lawmakers, a rumor surfaced which held that NRA's
Missouri/Illinois Field Representative had made a deal with key legislators
to the effect that, in return for passage of NRA-backed firearms pre-emption
legislation (it passed), NRA would not come forth with support for any
general concealed carry law. While the rumor was never confirmed (and that
Field Representative is no longer with NRA), the fact is that initially NRA
took a hands-off position on the grass-root group's bill.

Undaunted, the WMSA Secretary continued to correspond with other state legi-
slatures towards the end of securing copies of as many examples as possible
of extant concealed carry legislation. Frequent board meetings were held in
which key points and features from the dozens of laws were debated and ultim-
ately, abstracted for use in the draft bill. A mailing list of all licensed
Missouri gun dealers was purchased and mailings were done to hundreds of
them. Included in each mailing was an outline of the draft bill, a request
for financial assistance, and petition forms to be circulated and returned.
Although little money was returned, many signatures were gathered in this
manner.

At some indefinable point in the process, the effort began to coalesce. A new
pro-gun group formed in the St. Louis area (the Second Amendment Coalition of
Missouri) and began pushing the bill on their side of the state. With their
help, the number of petition signatures passed the 5, 000 mark. The Missouri
Sport Shooters Association took note of the burgeoning groundswell and began
to work for the bill, ultimately to unanimously vote-in a resolution favoring
passage. And finally the latecomer - NRA - jumped on the bandwagon and helped
in several ways.

After many discussions with key legislators and others involved in the
process, a palatable bill was worked out - one which boasted a key feature:
Provisional support from organized law-enforcement. A sponsor and several
co-sponsors were lined up and the bill was introduced and routed to the
appropriate committee.

Thus it was that Representative Joseph Driskill - flanked by co-sponsoring
representatives from Blue Springs, Springfield, and the St.Louis area -
introduced House Bill 1720. A legislative hearing was set for March 4th. The
notice given was short, yet it was sufficient. Those testifying for the bill
were everyday people, some of whom have been tragically victimized by preda-
tory, violent criminals whose ability to terrorize is guaranteed by the sure
knowledge that their intended prey are unarmed and defenseless. Of the ten or
so of those providing testimony on behalf of the bill, most were women and
all but two were Missourians. Some of these women owed their lives to the
defensive deployment of a handgun. Some of them had barely escaped death for
lack of access to a handgun.

One of the out-state witnesses had seen both her parents killed by a madman
at Luby's cafeteria in Killeen. The testimony of Dr. Suzanne Gratia spoke
powerfully and movingly to the fatal consequences of gun control; during the
massacre in which 22 victims were killed, she lacked access to her personal
.38 revolver because it was in her car instead of her purse (Texas lacks a
legal concealed carry law).

Dr. Gratia appeared at the hearing in response to an appeal made by myself to
Mr. Neal Knox (considered by many to be the dean of the gun rights movement)
who earlier had promised to help us with our bill. By many accounts, Suzanne
stole the show that day. Excerpts from her testimony - taken from a tape
recording made by WMSA Chuck Wittig - follow:

     "Sitting back there listening to this, I've gotta tell you that it
     just amazes me. My father was an expert ...in the founding of our
     country, and knowing what I know about the Bill of Rights, .. it
     just ...it just ...friggin' amazes me that this even up for
     discussion! Enough said about that. OK."

     "I grew up in a house with no guns, my father was not 'Bubba
     Hunter' uh ...in fact he gave up fishing because he didn't like to
     clean fish ...OK ... When I grew up and moved out on my own I was
     given a gun by a friend, for self protection, ...I was taught how
     to use it and knew how to use it correctly, and I carried it my
     purse. I lived in the country by myself ...OK ..."

     "Somewhere along the line I made one of my stupidest decisions...I
     was afraid that ...if ...somebody caught me with the gun in my
     purse, I could loose my license to practice, loose my ability to
     make a living. So I took the gun out of my purse and I left it in
     my car ...which the laws in my state are kinda wishy-washy on...and
     I thought, 'Heck, if I needed it, it's probably going to be when
     I'm out on the road ...in the middle of nowhere and, you know, my
     car's broke down or something ..."

     "Everybody in here knows, I think, what happened in Luby's .. but,
     in a nutshell ...uh ...ya know, we all think ...and I know you
     do...(indicating a committee member), we all think that crime
     happens when you're walking down a dark alley... I've never been
     involved in any crimes ...that's never happened in my life ... I
     was with my parents ...AT NOON, on a bright sunny day, in Luby's,
     with a hundred and forty other people, OK. In a town that's not a
     high crime town."

     "This guy .... drives through the window .... and starts shooting
     ... This guy has got no history ...nothing." "Well, my father and
     I immediately put the table up in front of us and we all got down
     behind it, and I ...ya know your first opinion is ...is this guy
     robbing this place ...what's the deal ...what's ...what's going on,
     and then you're realizing that all he's doing is simply shooting
     people."

     "As he was working his way toward us, I reached for my purse,
     thinking ...Hah! ...I've got this son of a gun ... OK? Now, under-
     stand, I know what a lot of people think, ...they think, ...'Oh, my
     God, then you would have had a gunfight and then more people would
     have been killed.' Unhunh, no, ...I was down on the floor ...this
     guy is standing up ...everybody else is down on the floor ...I had
     a perfect shot at him ...it would have been clear, I had a place to
     prop my hand ...the guy was not even aware of what we were doing
     ...I'm not saying that I could have saved anybody in there, but I
     would have had a chance ...that's all I'm saying is that I would
     have had a chance ..." "My gun wasn't even in my purse...it was a
     hundred feet away in my car!"

     "My father was saying, 'I gotta do something!, I gotta do some-
     thing! This guy's going to kill everyone in here!' So I wasn't able
     to hold him down and when my father thought he had a chance...he
     went at the guy! The guy turned, shot him in the chest and my dad
     went down."

     "Shortly ...it made the guy change directions and he went off to my
     left. Shortly after that somebody broke out a window in back and I
     saw a chance to get out ...I grabbed my mother and tried to get her
     up ...hoped she was following me ...and I grew wings on my feet. A
     sit turned out, my mother crawled over to my father and stayed with
     him ...and this ...I'm trying to think of a civil word to use...
     this person ...uh ...eventually came around and shot her also...OK"

     "Let me make a point here, in case this isn't becoming extremely
     clear. My state has gun control laws. It did not keep Hennard from
     coming in and killing everybody! What it did do, was keep me from
     protecting my family! That's the only thing that cotton pickin' law
     did! OK! Understand that! That's ...that's so important!"

     "Am I allowed to use a little theatrics ...May I stand up?"
     Chairman replies "Go right ahead."

     "Nobody thinks about this, but just imagine this, because I thought
     of this, I think about this occasionally now, I'm not a paranoid
     person, ...I still live in the country, I ...go about my business
     and have fun. But this has, needless to say, become an issue
     forme."

     "There is zero ...there is no security out there to speak of at
     all. It's a bright sunny day out there ...now ... what if one of
     those guys out there (indicating the hearing room entryway) walked
     in here with a pistol ...an automatic ...and he started blasting.
     Well there's only a couple of doors and let me tell you, you can't
     get out that door that quick before he can mow down a lot of
     people. Now what if he walks over here (toward a committee member
     -a representative from Columbia, MO) and he's got that gun pointed
     right at you? Don't you hope that that lady right there, (pointing
     to another committee member) has a revolver in her purse and know
     show to use it is able to shoot him?" Committeeman replies "No."
     "You don't hope that? You'd rather be dropped dead?" Committeeman:
     "If she tries to shoot him, someone on the other side of me would
     be hit."

     A distinct "I would!" emerges from the audience among many other
     voices until the chairman announces "Excuse me, Ma'am, your point
     has been made, " interrupted by a hearty "I agree with you!" from
     the audience.

Dr. Gratia:

     "That's basically it, let me, ...let me make one last...uh
     ...little bit ...OK ...let's forget that scenario ... You have a
     twenty-one year old daughter ...this will be the last little thing
     I want to say ...she drives to college everyday on back roads...we
     have a lot of those in Texas, I'm sure you have quite a few here
     ...she has some car trouble ...and it's on one of those roads where
     somebody drives by every five minutes ...she is at the mercy of
     whoever happens to drive by next! OK ...now ...'Bubba' drives up
     behind her ...I hope nobody in here is named 'Bubba' ...drives up
     behind her in a pick-up truck ...and he gets out with a baseball
     bat ...a big old knife in his pocket ...gets out with a baseball
     bat and starts bashing her windshield in. Now ...your twenty-one
     year old daughter is your only daughter. Would you like for her to
     have a gun in her car? That's all I have to say ...do you have any
     questions?"

Dr. Gratia words moved several attenders to tears. A ranking House member
rose and said "Dr. Gratia, it will be a long, long time before those of us
who have heard your story will forget you".

The only testimony in opposition to the bill came from a paid lobbyist for
the Missouri Sheriff's Association, who said that his group had minor prob-
lems with the bill as written; specifically, he wanted a longer-than-30-day
approval period, a higher (than $50) fee, and a means for revoking permits
once issued.

No vote was taken that day in spite of the overwhelmingly positive mood.
Civil and Criminal Law Chairman Ronnie White ultimately managed to prevent
the bill from leaving the committee; odds are strong that it would have been
successfully voted out onto the House floor but for his opposition to it.

Not to be deterred by this obstructionist maneuvering, Driskill arranged with
the sponsor of HB 1261 - the anti-crime bill - to have the concealed-carry
bill added to it in the form of an amendment. Already out of committee, HB
1261 contained a myriad of strong and effective crime-fighting provisions.

It was a perfect match. On March 24th, the House of Representatives voted
123-22 in favor of adding the concealed-carry bill to 1261 as an amendment.
That represents a six-to-one margin!

Chances for passage in the House are excellent this election year. The Senate
is unknown territory but the margin of victory in the House portends well. It
is entirely possible that, in a few short months, law-abiding Missourians
will be able to legally provide themselves with a proven, highly-effective
means of self-defense. Because the bill requires the applicant's completion
of firearms-safety training, a crime-free background and other safeguards, we
expect it to result in the same levels of reduction in violent crime as has
been found in other jurisdictions which have adopted such legislation, such
as Georgia, Florida, and Oregon - and you may safely ignore the screeching of
the Kansas City Star, which has only this week found out about the bill and
is already frothing at the prospect of the government's granting individuals
the right to effectively provide for their own protection.

Joe Driskill summed up his personal attitude towards the bill after the land-
slide victory: "This is giving honest people a chance to protect themselves.
We're not putting guns in the hands of anybody".

As for myself, I can only conclude that having a few more legislators like
Joe Driskill and Doug Harpool could ruin the Democrats' image forever!

                                   (END)