Concealed carry for Kansas public employees takes effect July 1

Public employees will be able to travel the streets of Wichita and other Kansas cities with concealed firearms starting Friday.

Empowering state and municipal workers to conceal and carry on the job is one of many new laws passed by the Legislature that take effect July 1.

Among others: a shortening of the time someone can receive welfare, transparency reforms and a ban on use of tanning beds by people under 18.

HB 2502 will enable public employees, except school employees, to conceal and carry on the job without any gun safety training. They were already allowed to carry in public office buildings in most cases, but this change enables them to carry weapons when they go out into the community on official business.

That means that a city code inspector, for example, could bring a gun with him when he performs home inspections.

Supporters say this will allow public employees to protect themselves on the job. Opponents say it violates the personal property rights of homeowners and creates potential safety risks because employees are not required to take gun safety training.

Sen. Forrest Knox, R-Altoona, the legislation’s main proponent, said that for the most part property owners have the right to decide who comes on their property and that would apply to most public employees.

“I would think that if a public employee wanted to carry … I should be able to deny him the right to come on property,” Knox said. “Now, I’m not going to get whatever service he’s providing. So that’s where then the city – it’ll be a hassle for the city to send someone who wasn’t going to carry.”

He did not have an answer for how cities should cope with that, but did say he thinks instances in which homeowners raise concerns will be rare.

“If it’s concealed, there’s no issue at all,” Knox said. “And that’s I think what will happen in practicality. Nobody’s going to be asking the public employee – except maybe for (Sen.) Oletha Faust-Goudeau, OK? – nobody’s going to be asking, ‘Do you have a gun?’ If they do, then there might be an issue. Very few people are going to ask.”

Faust-Goudeau, D-Wichita, sparred repeatedly with Knox on the issue during the session. She said Knox is underestimating the concerns of citizens.

“People are already talking about it. They will know. They do know. They’re reading the newspaper and watching the news,” she said, explaining that she’s heard from multiple constituents about the policy.

Wichita Mayor Jeff Longwell said it remains to be seen how many city employees will even take advantage of the right to carry or to what extent the city can regulate employees’ firearm use under the new law.

He said city officials would reassess the situation soon, but that his bigger concern was the state infringing on local control.

“We tend to be pretty heavy in favor of Second Amendment rights here in Wichita and I don’t know that there’s ever been an issue…I’m not sure there was ever a real need or outcry to say, ‘Hey, our rights are being violated, help us open up these rules,’” he said. “And so my bigger concern is why all of sudden is there a need for another government entity to tell us how to do our business?”

Asked about Longwell’s criticism, Knox said that individual liberty is the highest form of local control.

“My No. 1 job is to protect the constitutional liberties of citizens,” Knox said. “They are citizens. I mean, they’re public employees. I always say government needs to trust its citizens … and I would say that we should trust our public employees.”

The law will also restrict school districts from banning air gun shooting clubs from their campuses solely because the activities use air guns. Rep. Blake Carpenter, R-Derby, pushed for that portion of the legislation, which is meant to resolve a dispute in the Derby school district, where a shooting club was pushed off campus last year over safety concerns.

This story was originally published June 30, 2016 at 7:08 AM with the headline "Concealed carry for Kansas public employees takes effect July 1."