Kansas lawmakers restore healthcare facility exemption to conceal-carry law

A Kansas Senate committee modified a bill to exempt public hospitals and mental health facilities from a state law allowing concealed weapons in facilities without metal detectors and security personnel at entrances, according to an article on The Topeka Capital-Journal website.

The committee’s vote took the bill back to a form in which four state hospitals, the University of Kansas Health System, adult care homes and community mental health facilities wouldn’t be required to adhere to the 2013 Kansas law opening public buildings to carriers of concealed guns after July 1.

National Rifle Association and the Kansas State Rifle Association lobbyists oppose modification of the 4-year-old law.

“It’s clear that it’s dangerous to have people who are in a mental hospital carrying a weapon,” Sen. Tom Hawk, D-Manhattan said in the article. “I still would argue strongly, if we were in a saner moment and we collectively, as I choose to do, refuse to be afraid of any lobby group or threat of a scored vote, we would do something that made sense.”

Read the article.