Kansas lawmakers approve bill barring city, county gun restrictions; NRA sees plan as ‘model’

TOPEKA, Kan. – Kansas legislators gave final approval Saturday to a bill that would nullify city and county gun restrictions and ensure that it’s legal across the state to openly carry firearms, a measure the leading gun rights lobbying group sees as a model for stripping local officials of their gun-regulating power.

The House approved the legislation a day after the Senate passed it. The measure goes next to Republican Gov. Sam Brownback. He hasn’t said whether he’ll sign it, but he’s a strong supporter of gun rights and has signed other measures backed by the National Rifle Association and the Kansas State Rifle Association. The influential NRA is the nation’s leading gun rights lobbying group.

Kansas law doesn’t expressly forbid the open carrying of firearms, and the attorney general’s office has in the past told local officials that some restrictions are allowed. The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, has prohibited the practice, but the bill would sweep any such ban away, except to allow cities and counties to prevent openly carried weapons inside public buildings.

The measure also would prevent cities and counties from enacting restrictions on the sale of firearms and ammunition, or imposing rules on how guns must be stored and transported. Existing ordinances would be void, and local government could not use tax dollars for gun buy-back programs.

Supporters say a patchwork of local regulations confuses gun owners and infringes upon gun-ownership rights guaranteed by the state and U.S. constitutions. Opponents of the bill argue that local officials know best what policies are appropriate for their communities.

Both the NRA and the San Francisco-based Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence say 43 states, including Kansas, already significantly limit the ability of cities and counties to regulate firearms, though they vary widely in how far they go. But an NRA lobbyist said this week that this year’s legislation in Kansas would make that state a model on the issue for gun-rights supporters.

Kansas last year enacted a law to allow people with concealed-carry permits to bring their hidden weapons into public buildings — including libraries and community centres — after 2017 unless local officials post guards or set up metal detectors.