Kansas bill would require schools to open campuses for shooting clubs

A Kansas bill would open school campuses to BB guns and other air guns for shooting clubs to hold practice and competitions.

House Bill 2468 would amend the Weapon Free Schools Act so that air guns would not be considered weapons. It says that no school district “shall adopt a policy that prohibits an organization from conducting activities on school property solely because such activities include the possession and use of air guns by the participants.”

The bill, introduced by Rep. Blake Carpenter, R-Derby, comes after a shooting club that had operated at Oaklawn Elementary for 30 years was asked to leave by the Derby school district’s superintendent and school board.

“We didn’t have an incident for 30 years,” Larry Richardson, the Derby BB Club’s founder, said Tuesday during a hearing before the House Committee on Federal and State Affairs.

The club had previously been approved by the district’s facilities department to use school grounds.

But Craig Wilford, Derby superintendent, said that when he discovered the club wanted to hold a shooting tournament he decided to dig deeper and determined that the activity was too dangerous to have on school grounds.

The school board voted 4-3 against allowing the club on Oaklawn’s campus last year.

“If it was just learning how to do things and how to have gun safety, we would have been fine with it,” Wilford said. “But the discharge of anything, whether it met the definition of a weapon or was a facsimile-type weapon … just did not feel that was appropriate in a school setting.”

During the period that the club has operated, Richardson said, he has had students participate in national competitions and two earn college scholarships.

Under the bill, schools could still prevent students from bringing air guns to school independent of involvement in an extracurricular club. And schools could prohibit the use of air guns during the school day.

But they would not be allowed to prevent a shooting club from using their facilities unless they closed their grounds to all outside clubs.

“We just want to be treated like everybody else,” Richardson said.

Heather Bohaty, a spokeswoman for the Derby school district, said that if the law regarding weapons on school campuses is changed, “we would look at those changes, evaluate and then comply with the changes that are set.”

Kati Thul, principal at Garden Plain Elementary, said her school district refused to allow her to hold a shooting competition on campus. Her son is involved in the Sedgwick County 4-H Shooting Club, which she said has allowed him to learn about gun safety and make friends.

Thul said it is difficult for the club to find venues where they can host competitions.

The Kansas Association of School Boards raised concern about the liability the bill could leave for schools.

The bill would require participants in a shooting club to sign a liability waiver and obtain parental permission, but Mark Tallman, KASB’s lobbyist, said that would not protect schools from liability if nonparticipants were harmed or school property was damaged. The bill also says that schools could not require organizations to purchase liability insurance.

Tallman also said a bill that would require schools to open their doors to a specific type of organization would hamper local control and allow for similar legislation to be brought for other organizations.

Emma Klausmeyer, a junior at Kapaun Mount Carmel Catholic High School in Wichita, told the committee about how her experience with the Sedgwick County 4-H Shooting Club has improved her confidence. Klausmeyer competed in 4-H Nationals in Nebraska last year in the air rifle competition.

“I can understand why schools don’t want a gun in their building. I mean, it’s logic. But at the same time it’s like we’ve had no injuries as long as I’ve been there,” she said. “I’ve never heard of anyone getting injured or the building getting hurt, because we’re so focused on safety.”

Rep. Dick Jones, R-Topeka, suggested amending the bill to include language that ensured that the guns allowed on campus did not fire pellets or BBs at a fast enough velocity to break the skin.

This story was originally published January 26, 2016 at 11:18 AM with the headline "Kansas bill would require schools to open campuses for shooting clubs."