Kansas Advances Gun Preemption Bill
BY Herschel Smith
10 years ago
The Senate endorsed a sweeping bill Tuesday limiting authority of local governments to require employees to disclose if they hold a concealed-handgun permit and abolishing power of cities or counties to spend tax dollars on gun buy-back programs.
Legislation scheduled for a final vote Wednesday would require elimination of all city or county regulations, ordinances or policies regulating the open carrying of firearms. The bill would allow municipal governments to post signs on buildings to ban open carry of weapons, but violators would face no criminal sanction for ignoring the signs.
The Senate bill also would make it a misdemeanor to operate, possess or carry any firearm — not just a concealed handgun — while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
“Local control in many instances is best,” said Sen. Clark Shultz, a McPherson Republican who carried the bill during Senate floor debate. “In this case, we’re talking about a fundamental right to bear arms.”
However, Sen. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin City, said the bill brought by Shultz ignored an idea commonly expressed by Republicans and Democrats in the Capitol that government closest to the people was preferable.
“Time and time and time again we move to take local decisions out of the hands of local government,” he said.
Under Senate Bill 447, municipal employees could refuse to disclose to employers whether they possessed a concealed-carry license. The measure would ban disciplinary action against a worker who declined to answer questions from employers on the subject. All city or county governments would be blocked from creating records on concealed-carry licensees and would have to destroy any documents already created.
Lobbyists of the National Rifle Association and Kansas State Rifle Association urged senators not to amend the bill, said Sen. Ralph Ostmeyer, R-Grinnell.
[ … ]Pettey said it would cost an estimated $21.9 million for 350 public libraries to comply with the state security law adopted in 2013 by the Legislature and Gov. Sam Brownback. Many of these facilities can’t afford security upgrades and will eventually open doors to people carrying hidden firearms, she said.
“Our libraries are gathering places in our communities,” she said.
Sens. Forrest Knox, an Altoona Republican and leading proponent of conceal-carry rights in Kansas, objected to Pettey’s amendment. He said watering down current rights of people to carry guns in public buildings would undermine the safety of all employees and patrons
“This has a lot to do with the bill we passed last year,” Knox said. “Criminals can carry into the buildings. Law-abiding citizens cannot.”
Good. Kansas would then become an open carry state. As I’ve also commented regarding preemption laws:
… in order to prevent local hicks, ne’er-do-wells and criminals from acting out their Napoleon fantasies upon other men, association with the state means that – assuming robust gun rights laws already exist – local municipalities and townships shouldn’t be able to preempt state laws. The state is the right size for law-making and control. Our founding fathers were wise.
And there are would-be Napoleons everywhere. Experiences seems to tell us that localities are a good breeding ground for collectivists who want to control your lives and take your money. The federal Leviathan is far worse. The State is sometimes worse, sometimes not, but if robust state laws protecting our rights can be passed, it behooves us to prevent localities from interfering with those laws.
If I have any readers in Kansas, keep me posted on progress of this law.
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On April 2, 2014 at 8:54 am, pjb1 said:
In addition, if a particular state is worse than the federal government, it is a (relatively) simple matter to move to another state. In fact it makes sense to leave a few states as hellholes of gun control, just to demonstrate what results – remember D.C., “murder capital of the US”? Gun prohibitionists need to live somewhere, and such places are perfect for them. Although now it appears that even the obvious candidates such as New Jersey have a limit to how much gun control the people are willing to swallow.
On April 2, 2014 at 10:31 am, tkdkerry said:
Actually, Kansas has been an open carry state, but without restrictions on local preemption, so we’ve had the legal mish-mash that could make you a criminal for crossing an arbitrary line. Here in Wichita I’m still unsure of what the open carry situation is. I find it interesting that the bill addresses municipal employees being asked whether they have CCWs ( I haven’t been asked ). I have been unaware that was an issue.
Oh, and I just love this: “Our libraries are gathering places in our communities”
Yeah, so?
On April 2, 2014 at 7:12 pm, madoradataman said:
As a general governance principle, the more local the governance, the better.
HOWEVER,… that does not apply to the specific rights granted by God and protected by the constitution(s). Such rights are totally non-negotiable and off limits to “governance” at any level — except what may be necessary to specifically PROTECT such rights — and even that is fraught with peril.