Posted on 03/23/2004 10:53:08 AM PST by heckler
A measure allowing Kansans to carry concealed weapons went to the full Senate after being endorsed today by the Federal and State Affairs Committee on a 5-4 vote.
Several attempts to broaden the list of places where concealed guns would remain forbidden failed on similar votes. The most significant change from a version of the bill passed by the House is that the attorney general's office would issue permits, rather than the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
KBI officials have taken no position on the concept of concealed weapons but have said the agency did not want to become a licensing authority.
The Senate committee rejected attempts to ban concealed weapons in hospitals, churches, banks and government property including city halls and courthouses.
Also rejected was an amendment offered by Sen. Jim Barnett, R-Emporia, that would have allowed people to have concealed stun guns or tasers but not handguns.
Barnett said the concealed-carry bill likely will be vetoed by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, but he thought a bill allowing stun guns had a chance to become law.
Sebelius has said she favors concealed carry only for retired law enforcement officials.
The bill, as amended by the Senate committee, requires the attorney general's office to issue a concealed-carry permit to any Kansan who pays a $150 application fee and is a U.S. citizen at least 21 years old, has no mental illness or drug or alcohol addiction and completes eight hours of training.
Only Kansas, Illinois, Nebraska and Wisconsin do not have some type of concealed-carry law.
That's true, but for all practical purposes you can add NY, NJ, MD, CA, HI, MA, RI, and one or two more I can't remember to that list. All of those are "may issue" states, which means permits are granted at the discretion of some state or local official, as opposed to "shall issue" states which must issue permits to qualified applicants. In a few of the states I listed it is possible for ordinary citizens to get a concealed weapon permit, but normally grant permits are not issued unless the applicant has a very specific and verifiable need to be armed. (protection from criminal attack isn't a need I suppose)
In most of those states, like NJ, NY, CA, HI, for examples, ordinary citizens need not bother applying for a permit because only those who are either politically well connected, well known celebrities, or very wealthy will even be considered for a permit. Those states will gladly accept the exorbitant non-refundable filing fee required to make an application, but the ordinary citizen will never see a permit. AL is also technically a "may issue" state, but virtually all applicants who don't have a criminal or mental illness record are issued permits.
What is needed IMHO is a federal law requiring all states to honor the concealed weapon permits of all other states, just as they do driver's licenses and car registrations. While most shall-issue states have reciprocity agreements with a few other states, it is still dificult to travel very far without entering states which do not reciprocate with your state. As it is now, someone driving from, say FL to CO for example, has to go through a patchwork quilt of different state, county, and municipal laws and regulations if he or she wants to take along a legally owned firearm. Get caught violating any one of those laws or regs and you not only may go to jail and/or pay a heavy fine, in many jurisdictions carrying a gun is a felony and if convicted you can never legally possess a firearm again for life.
It shouldn't be necessary in a nation with a 2nd Amendment to get permission from the government to possess a common implement necessary to defend your and your family's lives. But like it or not it is, and since it is, at least the law should be uniform throughout the nation.
North Carolina has the same restriction on carrying in banks. Guess which state has the second highest per capita rate of bank robbery in the country?
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