Debate over guns at hospitals and college campuses in Kansas rages on

JONATHAN SHORMAN ON MAY 17, 2017
SOURCE: MCCLATCHY, SecurityInfoWatch

May 16--TOPEKA -- Kansas will soon allow guns in public hospitals, in state-run psychiatric hospitals and on public college campuses unless the Legislature changes the law -- an outcome that is far from certain.

A Senate debate over a bill that would have put some restrictions in place ended without a vote on Tuesday. Senators chose instead to send the bill back to committee in the hope that it can reach a compromise.

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The debate came as some lawmakers push for changes before July 1. After that date, public hospitals, state psychiatric hospitals and college campuses will no longer be able to prohibit concealed weapons.

Before voting to send House Bill 2278 back to the Senate's budget committee, senators had amended the bill to allow individuals with concealed carry permits to take weapons into hospitals, while barring patients at psychiatric facilities from having them.

Unless the law changes, the state's psychiatric hospitals will have to allow all individuals to have guns beginning this summer unless lawmakers approve more than $12 million for security measures.

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At the time they voted to return the bill to committee, senators were debating an amendment that would have allowed Wichita State University, the University of Kansas and Kansas State University to continue prohibiting guns after July 1.

Senators said negotiations were continuing over the bill. Sen. Carolyn McGinn, R-Sedgwick, who chairs the committee, said discussions were happening off the Senate floor even as the debate proceeded.

The committee may meet Wednesday if an agreement is reached, she said.

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"We have a great deal of people that define the Second Amendment as having the ability to take guns anywhere, even in our mental health hospitals," McGinn said when asked what the heart of the disagreement was.

Patients are sometimes unstable and can pose a danger to others, she said. The debate comes down to whether the Second Amendment is "totally unlimited or is it limited," McGinn said.

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