JEFFERSON CITY - Concealed-weapons supporters in the Missouri House outlasted their opposition Monday, giving preliminary approval to a bill that would legalize the carrying of concealed firearms throughout the state.

Critics of the proposal tried to pick away at the bill, repeatedly offering amendments to restrict where guns could be carried and to limit who could apply for permits. But a coalition of suburban Republicans and rural lawmakers of both parties easily defeated every attempt.

Rep. Dick Franklin, an Independence Democrat, said the entire bill was inappropriate because Missouri voters had rejected concealed weapons in a 1999 referendum. The measure, known as Proposition B, was favored in 104 of the state's 114 counties. But it lost by wide margins in the more heavily populated cities and suburbs.

Franklin said Missouri had to learn to do things as a state and bridge the urban-rural divide. The General Assembly, he said, should not substitute its wisdom for that of the voters.

"This issue lost in this state," Franklin said. "For us to change this issue, that people have already spoken on -- that's not right. If voters in a school district vote down a bond issue, the school board can't say, `The people made a mistake' and raise the levy anyway."

A proposal to put the issue to another statewide vote was defeated, 87-45.

After debating 21 amendments over two days, urban Democrats finally allowed the measure to come to a vote. It was approved on a voice vote.

House Majority Leader Wayne Crump, a Potosi Democrat, said he would bring up the bill for a vote on final approval this week. But he said he didn't know what the bill's prospects were in the Senate.

He said the situation was curious because gun rights were the main issue that helped Republicans take control of the Senate after special elections to fill three vacant seats in January 2001.

The debate got off to an uneasy start Monday because of vandalism aimed at Rep. Richard Byrd, apparently because of an amendment he tried offer on the concealed-carry bill on Thursday.

Byrd, a St. Louis County Republican, said that he supported concealed weapons and that he voted for Proposition B in 1999. But his district strongly opposed it. He offered an amendment that would require each county to hold another election before concealed guns would be permitted.

Under the amendment, concealed guns would be allowed only in counties where voters approved them. Gun-rights advocates despise such proposals because they have the potential to divide the state into a patchwork where a concealed weapon is legal in one area but can send people to jail in another.

Byrd told the House that his car had been spray-painted with obscenities and other rude comments, apparently in reaction to his proposal. His amendment came to a vote Monday and was defeated, 104-13.

The bill approved Monday would allow anyone 21 and older to transport guns concealed within the passenger compartments of vehicles. Current law requires the gun to be carried in the open, such as on seats or dashboards.

It would also allow Missourians to apply for permits to carry concealed firearms in public. And it would require Missouri to allow people to carry concealed weapons if they held permits issued by other states.

Opponents of the bill never mustered enough votes to add restrictions to it. They came closest on a proposal by Rep. Philip Willoughby to prohibit guns in houses of worship.

Willoughby, a Gladstone Democrat and a church pastor, said that there should be some sanctuary from weapons somewhere and that churches ought to be it. As written, the bill bans concealed guns from churches without specific approval of church leaders.

Willoughby said the provision was unenforceable because church leadership differed by religion and denomination.

"Do we not believe there should be at least one place in the entire state where we can say unequivocally that there are not guns?" Willoughby asked.

"Unfortunately, we can't," said Rep. Rod Jetton, a Marble Hill Republican, "because there are criminals out there" who ignore the law.

Rep. Derio Gambaro, a St. Louis Democrat, asked who would be considered the church leader in his Catholic parish -- a deacon, the parish priest, the archbishop or the pope.

He finally pointed skyward.

"I'm worried that someone with a gun in church might send me there to ask him," Gambaro said.

Willoughby's proposal failed, 70-64.

Willoughby also pointed to the provision that would prohibit guns in "any courthouse solely occupied by the circuit, appellate or Supreme Court or a courtroom."

Willoughby said such wording would allow permit holders to carry concealed guns into any courthouse that housed other offices. It would allow concealed guns, he said, into the state Supreme Court building, which includes offices of the state attorney general.

He offered an amendment to prohibit guns in any court building. But the proposal failed on a voice vote.

The bill would require people convicted of violent misdemeanors to wait five years before applying for concealed-gun permits. A person twice convicted of drunken driving or drug possession also would have to wait five years before being eligible for permits.

Rep. Bill Skaggs, a Kansas City Democrat, tried to increase the waiting period to 20 years.

"If they beat up their wife or commit some other crime of a violent nature, I think they should wait a good long time before they carry a concealed weapon," Skaggs said. "I know the NRA (National Rifle Association) would like to give them one tomorrow, but I don't."

The bill's sponsor, Democratic Rep. Frank Barnitz of Lake Spring, said no one complained at public hearings on the bill that five years was not long enough. He said he thought the longer delay was insignificant because the crime could not be more serious than a misdemeanor.

Skaggs' proposal died, 82-36. Another proposal to increase the waiting period to eight years also died, 62-57.