Sitting with her hand-knitted quilt and raffle tickets, 78-year-old Gerry Pfaehler hardly looks like she's running a high-stakes gambling ring.

Technically, though, this PTA matriarch is breaking South Carolina law the same as if she were throwing dice in an alley or scamming tourists with three-card monte on the sidewalk.

"She was selling the tickets, but she wasn't wearing a green eyeshade," says state Rep. John Graham Altman. "But the way our laws are headed, grandmothers are being turned into gun molls, and knitting is a felony."

State law enforcement and local crackdowns on amateur gambling -- including two Charleston Rotary Club's "casino nights" -- have prompted Altman to try to separate organized fund-raisers from organized crime.

The West Ashley Republican is dealing out a constitutional amendment to exempt raffles conducted by charitable, religious, community service and education-oriented groups from anti-gambling laws. He says the idea is to keep nonprofit charities from being punished and their activities from being stigmatized as illegal gambling.

"I have bought thousands of raffle tickets from the Elks Club, Knights of Columbus," Altman says. "You don't do that with the idea of winning a prize. You do it because it's charity."

Phyllis Gildea, president of the Charleston County PTA, says fear of the gendarmes prompted the organization to fold a number of notions for raising money for public schools. Gildea says the Altman proposal is "a great example of how we can work together for the betterment of South Carolina."

Sarah Cash, president of the East Cooper PTA Council, says most school fundraisers focus on silent auctions, fall festivals and gift wrapping sales. Raffles would be a good idea, she says, if the police would mind their own business.

"I think they should have better things to do," Cash says.

Sometimes they don't. After years of running raffles, Pfaehler asked Altman to see whether he could change the laws because she feared a raid. In another South Carolina county a few years ago, the sheriff's department shut down the raffle of a hand-knitted quilt to raise money for a school endowment program. Pfaehler says the police forced them to give back every dollar.

"When we sell raffle tickets, we can make $1,000 or $1,500," says Pfaehler, a past president of the South Carolina PTA and 50-year veteran of school volunteer work. "With a silent auction, you don't get but about $200."

Altman's legislation is narrowly focused and would not allow "casino nights." He says he doesn't want to legalize gambling, just allow a part of Americana to continue unmolested. The legislation as written would allow any organization to hold four raffles a year. The only costs these raffles could incur would be that of printing the tickets plus prizes.

Professional fundraisers who work for a cut of the profits could not be involved.

Altman's supporters say that if the General Assembly won't put this issue before voters, it will be the height of hypocrisy after the state outlawed video poker and then cranked up its own lottery.

Tom Meteraud, the state of South Carolina vice commander of the American Legion, says his organization has consistently lost ways to raise money for community programs to anti-gambling laws, and it's hurt a number of programs, such as baseball leagues sponsored by the Legion.

"The state says it's fine to allow gambling for the good of children, or for education, but it's wrong unless it is in their interest," Meteraud says. "We have always found that people are very generous when they aren't forced by the government. We can do a better job raising money for these programs."

Altman drafted his resolution last week, and plans to collect chits from fellow lawmakers this week. He's not sure he can get the two-thirds vote he needs to get his measure on the ballot, but it's one gamble he's willing to make.