Kansas Legislature Overrides Carry Veto
by Dave Workman
Senior Editor
The Kansas attorney general’s office is already working on the implementation of the Sunflower State’s new concealed carry law, passed by a landmark override of anti-gun Democrat Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ veto last month.
Kansas citizens will be able to get licenses starting Jan. 1, 2007, according to The Topeka Capitol Journal. The new law, which makes Kansas the 39th state with a “shall issue” concealed carry law—takes effect July 1. Eight other states have “may issue” concealed carry and three—Illinois, Nebraska and Wisconsin—have no provision for concealed carry by the average citizen. However, the Cornhusker legislature is currently considering “shall issue” legislation.
Sebelius suffered a quick and stinging defeat just days after she vetoed concealed carry legislation when state lawmakers mounted a bipartisan effort to successfully override that veto, creating concealed carry for Kansas citizens.
The governor, who had tried to argue that her approval of last year’s legislation giving concealed carry to retired peace officers was proof of her support for the right to keep and bear arms, was not happy with the override. But Republican state Sen. Phil Journey from Haysville was ecstatic.
“This is huge,” Journey told Gun Week. “This is the first time a governor in Kansas has been overridden in a dozen years.”
While this may not derail Sebelius’ anticipated re-election in the Fall, Journey predicted it will cost her a lot of votes.
“I tend to think that campaigns and politics are about the future not the past,” Journey observed, “but I think gunowners and NRA members are not going to forget this veto. The goodwill she got from last year’s signing of the bill for retired law enforcement officers evaporated with that veto.”
But just how much goodwill actually was created by Sebelius’ signature on a bill last year that essentially made retired police officers an exclusive class of armed citizens? Lenexa attorney and gun rights activist Scott Hattrup suggested to Gun Week that the governor, whose anti-gun roots go back to her days in the legislature when she sponsored a bill to outlaw so-called assault weapons, may have thought last year’s legislation would satisfy the firearms community.
Sebelius issued a terse statement following the embarrassing override vote, in which she asserted, “I continue to support the Second Amendment rights of Kansans.”
“The safety and security of our citizens is a top priority for me,” Sebelius claimed, “and that’s why I’ve listened closely to the Kansas chiefs of police and other law enforcement officers who urged me to veto this measure because they fear hidden weapons make Kansans, including our officers, less safe.”
That statement enraged posters on KeepAndBearArms.com, the nation’s leading gun rights forum. Said one activist, “Sounds to me like Sebelius doesn’t trust the law abiding citizens that elected her.” Another angrily wrote, “Remember, by this statement the humbled Gov. Sebelius is now on record as admitting that it is her opinion that the government of Kansas is the property of law enforcement!”
Surprisingly, when the Senate and House took up the override votes, beginning just 48 hours after her veto, the measure gained votes. The bill originally passed in the Senate 29-11 but on the override, it passed 30-10. In the House, the initial vote was 90-33, and the override garnered a 91-33 margin.
The original majorities in both houses were veto-proof, but Sebelius may have thought she could whittle away those votes before an override session later this Spring. But Journey said he had planned his moves on this bill since the governor’s earlier override in 2004, and he pushed for a quick vote before the legislature broke at the end of March. With no time to pressure Democrats to switch—as has happened twice in Wisconsin, one of the three remaining holdout states on concealed carry, where there is also an anti-gun Democrat in the governor’s office—the original majorities held.
The Capitol Journal quoted Chris Cox, executive director of the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), who said the vote “proves the determination and persistence of the NRA and our members in Kansas.”
He also told the newspaper that lawmakers had grown weary of arguments against concealed carry from the anti-self-defense lobby.
“They’ve come (here) screaming bloody murder, mass hysteria, doomsday. It hasn’t materialized,” he told a reporter.
His sentiments were echoed by officials with the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), a grassroots gun rights group.
“The vote in Kansas,” said CCRKBA Executive Director Joe Waldron, “proves that it is possible for reasonable legislators on both sides of the aisle to work together for the common good. The Kansas law is a good, sensible step, and we are confident that before very long, the public will see just how well concealed carry works and how responsible licensed citizens are. It will also prove just how preposterous the arguments against concealed carry really were, and that the hysteria was simply wrong.”
In addition to crediting Journey as the principal sponsor of the concealed carry measure, the NRA cited state Reps. Candy Ruff (D-40th Dist.) and Gary Hayzlett (R-122 Dist.) for their bipartisan leadership on passage and the override votes.
Areas Off-Limits
As with many other concealed carry laws around the country, the new Kansas statute puts several areas off limits to armed citizens, including law enforcement offices, prisons and jails, courthouses, city halls and state office buildings, at public meetings of governing bodies of cities, counties and other political subdivisions, at school or university sponsored events not related to firearms, polling places on election days, at professional athletic events not involving firearms, inside schools, places of worship, public libraries, day care centers, mental health clinics, and in places designated “public nuisances,” such as places where illegal drugs are present.
While judges are exempt from the courtroom ban, concealed carry is also prohibited on the Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson. Concealed firearms are also prohibited at centers for abuse victims where non-custodial parents can visit their children, and concealed carry is also banned anywhere guns are forbidden by federal law.
Over the next couple of months, according to Hattrup, firearms trainers will be submitting an outline on the training course to the attorney general’s office. He said the eight-hour course will likely be modeled on the NRA’s Personal Protection course.
Four Year Period
Kansas licenses will be good for a period of four years. According to Journey, the state may be able to start issuing licenses prior to the mandatory date of Jan. 1, 2007. It all depends upon how swiftly all the regulations can be put together.
Whitney Watson, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office, told Gun Week that Kansas residents will be able to keep track of the progress by visiting: www.ksag.org, the attorney general’s office website. There will be a link on that site to the legislation, and also a guide to the regulations. Information will also be posted about who can, and cannot, qualify for a license.
Watson said the attorney general’s office is in contact with a number of parties that will help draft the regulations, and Journey said the process is already underway.
Newspapers are predicting that about 48,000 Kansas residents will eventually acquire concealed carry licenses, and Journey said that after a period during which Kansas residents become used to the new law, there will likely be changes that simplify the statute. The bill that was passed spanned 24 pages.
Likely to influence how quickly the implementing regulations are completed is the fact that Attorney General Phill Kline is an ardent supporter of concealed carry.
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