RENO, Nev. - The most dedicated members of the National Rifle Association can rattle them off without blinking: Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois.

Clustered in the heartland, they are among the few states left that prohibit the carrying of concealed guns. And despite fanfare here and there by the gun lobby this spring, the Midwest will probably stay that way for at least another year.

The House sponsor of a Missouri bill aimed at permitting citizens to carry guns said Friday that his and other firearm-friendly legislation appeared to be dead in the state Senate. He's a rural Democrat, and the Senate is controlled by Republicans -- many from soccer-mom suburbs.

"Apparently they're afraid of it," said Rep. Frank Barnitz of Lake Spring. "If you don't get a committee hearing this late in the session, it's not going to go anywhere."

Indeed, as 35,000 firearms enthusiasts flocked to Reno last week for the NRA's annual meeting, many said they doubted that "right to carry" could prevail anywhere a governor promises a veto -- as in Missouri and Kansas.

So the faithful were urged to prepare for the fall elections.

"No other group could've done what we did in the election of 2000," said NRA legislative chief James Jay Baker, who credited George W. Bush's victory to pro-gun voters. "Now it's time to finish the job."

Baker pledged to cheering convention delegates: "We're not going to rest until there are no states that deny citizens that right" to hide guns on themselves for self-defense.

Lawmakers in Nebraska and Wisconsin, however, recently defeated bills that would have required police to issue permits for nonfelons to carry guns.

Gun-control advocates cite those states' actions as evidence that a nationwide drive toward lifting concealed-gun bans might be running out of steam.

"The NRA has not won any major change in concealed-carry laws this year at all," said Luis Tolley, director of state legislative affairs for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. "We were thinking this year was potentially the NRA's best chance."

Midwest resistance

Since the mid-1980s, the gun lobby has outspent and, some say, outdebated its opponents in battles over concealed weapons from Maine to Florida to Alaska.

One of the most divisive gun-related issues, "right to carry" is credited by its supporters with reducing violent crimes in states that adopt it.

Today, most Americans reside in the 33 "shall issue" states, where police are required to issue permits to adults who qualify.

Many other states have "may issue" laws, much to the annoyance of the NRA and other Second Amendment advocates. "May issue" means that police and sheriff's departments have the discretion to decide who, if anyone, gets to conceal a gun.

Tolley linked Midwesterners' uneasiness with concealed-carry to a general faith in their police, whose leadership often lobbies against such legislation.

In Missouri, "shall issue" legislation included bills permitting law-abiding citizens to conceal guns in their cars and on their persons.

Although regional pro-gun groups made weekly lobbying trips to the state Capitol, their efforts appeared to lack the heavy artillery of the NRA.

"I don't know what happened to the NRA on this," Barnitz said. "They haven't been around much."

One explanation: An almost certain veto by Gov. Bob Holden would render everything pointless from a national perspective. Neither side can cite an example in which the gun lobby swayed a legislature to pass major changes in concealed-carry laws over a governor's veto.

"We still want to put it on his (Holden's) desk and see what happens," said Gary L. Davis of Kansas City, the NRA's election volunteer coordinator for Missouri's 5th Congressional District.

What might happen, Davis hopes, is payback at the polls on Nov. 5 -- particularly from rural Missouri. Whereas the 1999 Proposition B referendum to legalize concealed weapons failed statewide, it carried most rural precincts.

Holden, a Democrat, isn't facing election this year. But many rural Democrats will be defending their seats in the statehouse.

"We're single-issue voters," Davis said. "It doesn't matter if you're a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, if you support our issue, we'll vote for you."

Stacey Newman, who opposes looser handgun laws, said her lobbying would continue as well.

Newman, co-president of the St. Louis chapter of Million Mom March, said that Proposition B confirmed that Missourians in general oppose concealed guns but also showed rural legislators how strong pro-gun sentiments are in their districts.

"Things aren't moving as smoothly as they (gun proponents) had hoped at the beginning of the session," Newman said. But she noted, "For a lot of term-limited guys in the legislature this year, this is their last hurrah. They have nothing to lose by overriding a veto."

In Kansas, the gun lobby didn't even try to pass a bill legalizing concealed weapons. Gov. Bill Graves vetoed such legislation in 1995.

"It's a moot point until we get a new governor," said Wichita lawyer and lobbyist Phil Journey, president of the Kansas Second Amendment Society. "Rather than do my Don Quixote impression, tilting at windmills, I'd rather do what works."

Last month, gun-rights advocates managed a victory in Topeka when Graves signed a law shielding firearm manufacturers and dealers from lawsuits brought by municipalities.

With Graves' term expiring in January, the prospects for concealed-carry in Kansas will rest on who is elected to replace him. "I could see a law on the books in 2003," Journey said.

Such a law would erase a Kansas ban on concealed weapons that took effect in 1903.

Perhaps the NRA's biggest victory this spring occurred outside a legislative hall.

In April, an Ohio appeals court declared that state's ban unconstitutional because it violated the right to self-defense. Ohio for decades has allowed only law enforcement officials and state and federal government agents to carry concealed weapons.

Gun-rights advocates are pushing a "shall issue" bill in Ohio, but Republican Gov. Bob Taft has said he will veto it.

The NRA for the moment appears to be focusing most of its concealed-carry efforts on Colorado, a "may issue" state where restrictions vary widely from county to county.

A previous push to bring Colorado into the "shall issue" category failed after the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School.