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Gun bill fires up emotions
Language that allows municipalities to regulate firearms was struck
By James Carlson
The Capital-Journal
Published Monday, March 05, 2007
Topekans can't strut along Kansas Avenue with a six-shooter strapped to their hip. At least not yet.
In the fight over whether municipalities can place their own restrictions on carrying concealed handguns, a revised bill has inadvertently opened up the possibility of allowing open carry across the state.
That ramification, accident or not, is just fine with one of the bill's proponents.
"There's automatically an assumption when you have an open carry of a firearm that there's a need to be suspicious, and that's wrong," said Rep. Candy Ruff, D-Leavenworth.
The House Federal and State Affairs Committee will debate the revised bill today.
There isn't a state law against walking around with a loaded pistol strapped on, but many cities, including Topeka, have local ordinances against it.
When the concealed-carry law was enacted last year, the League of Kansas Municipalities read it to say cities and counties could pass laws more restrictive than the state law. The bill's authors said it wasn't their intention to give municipalities that right and are now attempting to change it.
In doing so, however, they struck language allowing municipalities to regulate "the manner of carrying any firearm on one's person."
"Are we reverting back to the good old days here?" asked Dale Goter, lobbyist for the city of Wichita, which has had an ordinance against openly displaying a loaded weapon since at least 1936.
Jay Hinkel, assistant city attorney for Wichita, said there were numerous city ordinances on the books regulating the open carry of a loaded weapon, which would be repealed if the bill became law.
"These were obviously laws the council thought were necessary at the time for public safety," he said.
Ed Klumpp, representative of the Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police, said that when he was Topeka's police chief, the department used local gun laws to stop drive-by shootings by gangs.
He said the police had informants that tipped them off when a shooting was to occur. Then police would pull over the car and cite the occupants for gun violations.
With this law, that couldn't happen.
"We could care less about the people who have a permit," he said. "We care about having the ability to regulate people who don't have a license."
To carry a concealed weapon, gun owners must go through an extensive safety course. But the revised bill would allow any legal firearm owner to openly carry a loaded weapon.
Ruff said she has never been a gun person. But after two women in her district were raped and then asked her for a concealed weapons law, Ruff thought it was the right thing to do.
"My feeling has always been if you're a law-abiding citizen and having a gun makes you feel safer, then go for it," she said.
Sen. Phil Journey, R-Haysville, said open carry isn't that abnormal. At least 10 states have preemption, which means the state law trumps any local regulations.
He said this revision wouldn't be needed if LKM hadn't tried to get cities to draft ordinances against concealed weapons.
"We had to respond to the ordinances the league promoted all over the state because it created the crazy patchwork quilt that subjected permit holders to unfair and inconsistent prosecution around the state," he said.
Journey said no one should judge the bill as it is currently drafted. The final legislation could be "substantially different" than the current bill, he said, but he wouldn't comment on whether open carry would stay in.
http://cjonline.com/stories/030507/sta_153960756.shtml
Gun bill fires up emotions
Language that allows municipalities to regulate firearms was struck
By James Carlson
The Capital-Journal
Published Monday, March 05, 2007
Topekans can't strut along Kansas Avenue with a six-shooter strapped to their hip. At least not yet.
In the fight over whether municipalities can place their own restrictions on carrying concealed handguns, a revised bill has inadvertently opened up the possibility of allowing open carry across the state.
That ramification, accident or not, is just fine with one of the bill's proponents.
"There's automatically an assumption when you have an open carry of a firearm that there's a need to be suspicious, and that's wrong," said Rep. Candy Ruff, D-Leavenworth.
The House Federal and State Affairs Committee will debate the revised bill today.
There isn't a state law against walking around with a loaded pistol strapped on, but many cities, including Topeka, have local ordinances against it.
When the concealed-carry law was enacted last year, the League of Kansas Municipalities read it to say cities and counties could pass laws more restrictive than the state law. The bill's authors said it wasn't their intention to give municipalities that right and are now attempting to change it.
In doing so, however, they struck language allowing municipalities to regulate "the manner of carrying any firearm on one's person."
"Are we reverting back to the good old days here?" asked Dale Goter, lobbyist for the city of Wichita, which has had an ordinance against openly displaying a loaded weapon since at least 1936.
Jay Hinkel, assistant city attorney for Wichita, said there were numerous city ordinances on the books regulating the open carry of a loaded weapon, which would be repealed if the bill became law.
"These were obviously laws the council thought were necessary at the time for public safety," he said.
Ed Klumpp, representative of the Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police, said that when he was Topeka's police chief, the department used local gun laws to stop drive-by shootings by gangs.
He said the police had informants that tipped them off when a shooting was to occur. Then police would pull over the car and cite the occupants for gun violations.
With this law, that couldn't happen.
"We could care less about the people who have a permit," he said. "We care about having the ability to regulate people who don't have a license."
To carry a concealed weapon, gun owners must go through an extensive safety course. But the revised bill would allow any legal firearm owner to openly carry a loaded weapon.
Ruff said she has never been a gun person. But after two women in her district were raped and then asked her for a concealed weapons law, Ruff thought it was the right thing to do.
"My feeling has always been if you're a law-abiding citizen and having a gun makes you feel safer, then go for it," she said.
Sen. Phil Journey, R-Haysville, said open carry isn't that abnormal. At least 10 states have preemption, which means the state law trumps any local regulations.
He said this revision wouldn't be needed if LKM hadn't tried to get cities to draft ordinances against concealed weapons.
"We had to respond to the ordinances the league promoted all over the state because it created the crazy patchwork quilt that subjected permit holders to unfair and inconsistent prosecution around the state," he said.
Journey said no one should judge the bill as it is currently drafted. The final legislation could be "substantially different" than the current bill, he said, but he wouldn't comment on whether open carry would stay in.
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