As Kris Kobach left office, unsecured gun was found in filing cabinet, successor says
Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab’s office says that on the day last January it took over from outgoing secretary Kris Kobach, it found an unsecured gun in a filing cabinet.
The discovery was mentioned in a timeline Schwab aides produced as part of an investigation into 1,000 rounds of ammunition that went missing after they were purchased during Kobach’s tenure.
The timeline, obtained through a public records request, provides new details about how the secretary of state’s office armed itself after Kobach gained the power to prosecute voter fraud in 2015.
Schwab’s staff said that they discovered the agency-owned gun in the secretary’s downtown Topeka office suite on Jan. 14. Kobach, who lost the 2018 governor’s race, is now running in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate and has championed Second Amendment rights.
“There was a firearm found in the office as part of the transition between the previous and current administration. It was immediately secured and turned over to Capital Police at the start of Secretary Schwab’s term,” Schwab spokeswoman Katie Koupal said.
The gun, a .45-caliber pistol, was in a filing cabinet in an office that had been cleaned out for the transition, Koupal said.
Koupal said it was unlikely that the gun was loaded but that she couldn’t say with certainty because she hadn’t been able to speak to the person who discovered it.
The 1,000 rounds that Kobach’s office bought matched the personal firearm of an employee who was being trained as a law enforcement officer to assist in voter fraud investigations, she said.
Kobach’s campaign didn’t comment.
Schwab and Kobach are Republicans who have taken sharply different approaches to the job. Schwab isn’t pursuing voter fraud prosecutions, instead deferring to professional prosecutors.
Schwab, a former lawmaker, has previously taken issue with Kobach’s public comments. In 2017, he said Kobach’s claim that a “culture of corruption” exists in Topeka was an insult to the Legislature.
When Schwab took office, he was unable to locate some 1,000 rounds of ammunition that had been purchased under Kobach’s watch–prompting an FBI investigation. The FBI later turned over its findings to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Kansas, which declined to prosecute.
Craig McCullah, a former deputy assistant secretary of state, returned 218 rounds after the FBI contacted him in August. McCullah was hired by Kobach in August 2015 and by January 2016 had become conditionally certified as a law enforcement officer to aid in investigations. He has said he used the other 782 rounds as part of practice shooting with his personal firearm, which used 9mm ammunition.
According to the timeline, in March 2016 McCullah purchased a ZIG M1911 handgun, a magazine, holster and 1,000 rounds of ammunition. The office later reimbursed him for $437.18 for the gun and supplies and another $201 for ammunition.
In August, Schwab transferred ownership of the gun, ammunition and a gold badge that said “Investigator” to the Kansas Highway Patrol.
This story was originally published December 18, 2019 at 10:59 AM.