Willis Towers Watson Wire645 × 400Search by image
gun in workplace
HUNTER WOODALL ON MAR 27, 2017
SOURCE: MCCLATCHY, SecurityInfoWatch
March 23--Officials with the University of Kansas Health System made another effort Thursday to keep guns out of its buildings before a state law that would allow concealed weapons takes effect July 1.
Senate Bill 235, which had a hearing Thursday before the Senate budget committee, would allow Kansas' state hospitals and public hospitals, like the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, Kan., to keep banning handguns.
The legislation is the latest attempt to change the state law after other attempts have failed to gain traction this session.
Membership has its privileges! JOIN the IFPO and see the benefits!
Bob Page, president and CEO of the University of Kansas Health System, said the law taking effect in July already is worrying patients. He said KU Hospital would be at a competitive disadvantage if it became the only hospital in the Kansas City area where concealed weapons are allowed.
"I'm cautiously optimistic," Page said after the hearing about the bill's chances.
Legislation passed in 2013 loosened gun laws and allowed concealed firearms in state and municipal buildings in Kansas, though the guns could be kept out if certain security measures were met.
But the bill gave certain places, like colleges and public hospitals, a four-year exemption to prepare for that provision to take effect. That exemption ends July 1.
Find out how YOU can become a Certified Protection Officer with the IFPO!
Lawmakers revised gun laws again in 2015 to allow people 21 and older to carry concealed handguns without a permit. That led some lawmakers, educators and students to push for a rollback of the 2013 law.
Public mental health centers and state hospitals would continue to be exempt under SB 235.
Other efforts to roll back parts of the concealed-carry law have either failed or stalled in both the House and Senate.
Those efforts included a narrower bill that would have exempted only the KU Health System and another bill that would have expanded the weapons exemption to college campuses.
The Kansas State Rifle Association has opposed any effort to repeal the campus and hospital portions parts of the concealed-carry law. Gun rights supporters have argued that keeping the law in place is a safety issue.
"It is naive to assume that there are not already guns in these facilities," said Brett Hildabrand, a former legislator and lobbyist for the rifle association.
If the law remains unchanged, public hospitals could still ban guns if they make security changes. They would need to install metal detectors and have armed security, a move hospital officials say would be costly.
Read the rest of the story here.
