By JIM SUHR 
Associated Press Writer 

HAZELWOOD, Mo. (AP) -- This St. Louis suburb's police chief clarified his department's planned approach to Missouri's stalled conceal-and-carry law Friday, rejecting a gun-rights group's claims he has told his force to confiscate all firearms found during traffic stops.

In an Oct. 10 memo to his staff, Police Chief Carl Wolf wrote that local officers who find concealed guns in vehicles should "seize the firearm, package as evidence, and forward the firearm, according to department procedure," to the St. Louis County firearms lab. There, the gun would be tested to pinpoint whether it had been used in a crime.

Though the memo did not spell out any exceptions, Wolf said Friday the seizures would apply only to motorists who could not immediately produce documentation that they owned the gun.

Wolf called the flap moot, given that Missouri's new concealed guns law -- to have taken effect Oct. 11 -- remains on hold by a preliminary injunction issued by a St. Louis judge over constitutional concerns.

"The policy is not in effect, and it won't be in effect" until the court issues are meted out, Wolf said. "If the law goes in, we'll put out another policy and make the clarifications."

Wolf's comments were in response to claims by the Second Amendment Foundation, which argued that the appearance of gun seizures "for no other reason than blind suspicion to find out whether it's been used in a crime amounts to a legal fishing expedition."

The group, based in Bellevue, Wash., said Wolf's memo suggests an unconstitutional search-and-seizure plan that "tramples over such long-standing legal principles as 'innocent until proven guilty' and 'probable cause."' Wolf, the group said, was "practicing a new and contemptibly low form of harassment."

"Law-abiding Missouri gun owners should not be fearful of driving through Hazelwood and having their property confiscated, pretty much on a whim, because Chief Wolf doesn't like a new gun law," said Alan Gottlieb, the group's founder. "Has this guy ever heard of the Bill of Rights?"

"I'm not going to debate these people," Wolf countered. "I don't care if people own guns. My concern is that my officers go home at night to their families."

Still, Wolf's memo echoed police concern about the law, warning that "officers should be of a mind-set that they could immediately be confronted with lethal force on any traffic stop and be prepared to respond with lethal force."

"These are dangerous times, and officer safety should be foremost in your mind. Stay safe!" Wolf wrote.

Wolf said he hoped to find the employee who supplied the memo to Gottlieb, saying that person may have dangerously revealed "tactical information about how we do things in the city."

The law -- enacted when the Legislature overrode Gov. Bob Holden's veto last month -- would allow Missourians age 23 and older who pay $100 and pass criminal background checks and training courses to receive permits from their county sheriffs to carry concealed guns. It also would allow anyone 21 or older to conceal a gun in a vehicle without need of a permit.

Opponents sued in St. Louis on claims that, among other things, the law violated a Missouri Constitution provision dating to 1875 that guarantees the right to bear arms and adds, "but this shall not justify the wearing of concealed weapons."

The judge set a hearing for Thursday to decide whether to impose a permanent injunction.