Some people just can't take "No" for an answer. The Missouri legislators who keep pushing concealed-carry, for example.

Voters turned down a referendum proposal on this issue in 1999. Yet gun-rights enthusiasts in the General Assembly keep coming back to it.

These lawmakers insist voters really meant to pass Proposition B, as the concealed-carry measure was known on the 1999 ballot. Misguided lawmakers believe it is their solemn, constitutional duty to get this thing passed. Each year they claim to have enough votes to do so. We'll see.

They also insist that the National Rifle Association, the deep-pocketed gun rights group, spent nearly $4 million without success on Prop B and isn't interested in spending that kind of money again.

Whom do these lawmakers think they are kidding? It's not as if the NRA pulled up stakes and left the state. Quite the contrary. Besides, some in the General Assembly are NRA members, and several lawmakers have accepted NRA campaign contributions.

The NRA works to defeat gun-control politicians by bankrolling their opponents. Like other special-interest groups, it doesn't just give money and expect nothing in return.

Rather than do things out in the open, gun-rights groups like the NRA are working behind the scenes, pulling strings in the Missouri House and Senate. It's what they did last session, too.

Here's how it works: the NRA knows it's a lightening rod for gun-control advocates, so it waits in the background while politicians do the group's work.

No one should be fooled. Missouri is among the states targeted by the NRA and other groups intent on getting concealed-carry laws passed. The proponents appear to have plenty of help.

But there's a reason they have had no success with concealed-carry in Missouri: The people don't want it.

There are no fewer than four bills aimed at legalizing concealed weapons in Missouri. Democratic Rep. Wayne Crump of Potosi, who sponsored a bill last session, is behind one of them. Another booster is House Speaker Jim Kreider, a Democrat from Nixa.

The latest campaign to legalize concealed weapons comes draped in the flag. This time supporters are saying the post-Sept. 11 terrorism threat warrants concealed weapons in Missouri.

Anyone eligible to purchase a gun can still buy one, if it makes them feel more secure. But this debate is over getting permits to conceal weapons, not over purchasing them.

The ban on concealed-carry has been in effect in Missouri since 1875. There have been two world wars, the Korean War, Vietnam, the Gulf War and many national crises since then. What makes the ban appropriate now?

Concealed-carry proponents have always played to people's emotions, but their use of the Sept. 11 tragedy as a backdrop for their latest pitch amounts to cheap opportunism.

Fortunately, Gov. Bob Holden now says he will veto any broad-based concealed-carry bill that comes across his desk. That's what Gov. Bill Graves did in Kansas.

Some Kansas City lawmakers have said they will work against these bills. That's good to know. Even so, they'll need help to turn back this stubborn lot. But proponents of concealed weapons have been licked before, and they can be licked again.