Gun-rights advocates push for expanded concealed carry without permit

Correction: Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce spoke in favor of the bill. His leadership position was incorrect in a previous version of this story.

The possible conflict between constitutional rights and public safety played out Thursday in a Senate committee that’s considering a bill to allow Kansans to carry concealed guns without a permit or training.

Representatives of national and state gun associations and the majority leader of the Senate argued that unregulated “constitutional carry” would make the state safer because criminals wouldn’t know who was carrying a gun to oppose their crimes.

Opponents, including a spokesman for a national gun-control group and a Salina gun-safety instructor, argued that letting untrained people carry at will opens the door for accidents and misjudgments that could have deadly results.

At issue is Senate Bill 45, a move by gun advocates to remove the current training and licensing requirements to obtain a concealed-carry permit. It costs about $200 to $300 for the classes and permit.

In essence, the bill would allow anyone who is legally entitled to own a gun to carry it, openly or concealed, anywhere that guns aren’t specifically prohibited.

The bill appears to be on its way to Senate passage with 25 co-sponsors, four more than the votes needed to pass it.

Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce, R-Hutchinson, said Kansans have long had the right to carry openly without major problems surfacing, and he wouldn’t expect any different if they could carry concealed.

“This would just allow you to carry under your coat or in your purse,” he said.

Patricia Stoneking, president of the Kansas Rifle Association, said Kansans can already carry guns openly, but it’s not practical in inclement weather when coats are required or when a woman has to wear evening attire.

“If I’m dressed in an evening gown, which I was recently, and I want to carry a gun, I should be able to slip it in my bag,” she said. “I shouldn’t have to try to figure out how to put on a belt and holster.”

Stoneking said the current concealed carry permit process is too burdensome and expensive for some would-be gun carriers.

“We have senior citizens who are on fixed incomes and they flat-out cannot afford to go through that process,” she said. “We have people who are in low-income categories who live in low-income neighborhoods and again they probably have a bigger need to be able to protect themselves and they don’t have the money to jump through those hoops to pay for classes and pay for the training.”

Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau, D-Wichita, objected to that linkage of income, crime and the need to carry guns made by Stoneking and other proponents.

“When we mention low-income and minorities and those individuals, personally I take offense to it, because if you look in this room right now, I am the only minority in this room.

“I live in a low-income area. And I just want to set the record straight that all people who live in low-income, just because of their ZIP codes and they don’t have a lot of money, it doesn’t mean that we are criminals and it doesn’t mean all criminal activity occurs in those areas.”

Among the bill’s opponents was David Nichols of Salina, a National Rifle Association life member, gun instructor and competition shooter.

He said he was surprised that the NRA and KRA would support untrained individuals carrying weapons, given their long track record of support for gun-safety education.

“I don’t know about you, but I don’t relish the idea of someone carrying a handgun for self-defense that has as much potential of inflicting deadly force on an innocent bystander as the assailant does,” he said. “All that because the person isn’t properly trained in the use of firearms.”

And although the Second Amendment guarantees the right to bear arms, it also acknowledges that some regulation is necessary, he said.

“I love the Second Amendment,” he said. “But I love for properly trained people to be armed. I don’t love for people who don’t know anything about firearms to be armed.”

“I respectfully request this bill be killed,” he said.

This story was originally published February 12, 2015 at 2:06 PM with the headline "Gun-rights advocates push for expanded concealed carry without permit."