Kansas has a new gun law on the books. As of July 1, public workers throughout the state will be allowed to conceal and carry weapons on the job, with the exception of school district employees. Prior to the law, the only city employees able to carry a concealed weapon were police officers and certain fire fighters. They previously could carry in most public office buildings, but now they can carry in the community when they are out and about on official business.
House Bill 2502 does not require gun safety training. But it does restrict school districts from banning air gun shooting clubs from their campuses solely because the activities use air guns. That allowance is in response to a shooting club which was removed from a school district over safety concerns.
The employees are solely responsible for keeping their weapon safe and out of reach of the general public. The city does not allow employees to store their weapons in city property, including in desks or vehicles.
The main reason people seem to be in opposition to the new law is the fact that it creates possible safety risks because it does not require safety training, and it takes away the choice of the property owner to turn away people who are carrying. Republican Senator Forrest Knox, a primary supporter of the legislation, said that shouldn’t be a problem, because property owners have the right to decide who comes on their property and that would apply to most public employees. If a property owner requests that someone come to their property who isn’t carrying, that seems to put the burden on the city, though, to send someone who isn’t carrying. How that will be handled is unclear.
A month into the new legislation, there are as of yet no reports on how many public employees have elected to exercise their new rights. City officials are prohibited from questioning employees about whether or not they are carrying or whether or not they have undergone training. “It’s none of our business, according to the law,” reported City Manager Warren Porter in a Cowley Courier Traveler article.
