4 W E D N E S D A Y , J U L Y 2 , 2 0 1 4 | 9 1 3

913 LOCAL

Cities in Kansas are repealing ordinances re-

stricting guns to comply with a state law that

went into effect Tuesday even as some offi-

cials complain the state has trampled local au-

thority.

The law, HB 2578, went into effect Tuesday but some

cities had already started changing their laws. The law pro-

hibits cities from banning the transportation, possession,

carrying and sale of firearms and knives, leaving regulation

up to the state. That means cities can no longer ban the

open carry of weapons in city buildings, parks and side-

walks.

Proponents of the law say it unifies gun laws across the

state, but opponents are concerned that open carry has no

place in an urban area and the state is trampling on cities’

ability to govern themselves.

Prairie Village and Lenexarepealed their bans on opencarry in the past monthwhile Overland Park, Mer-riam and Roeland Park re-pealed bans more than ayear ago. Leawood and theconsolidated government ofWyandotte County andKansas City, Kan., will re-move their bans now thatthe state law is effective.Some cities, like Shawneeand Olathe, had no gun re-strictions on the books.

Rep. Brett Hildabrand, aRepublican from Shawnee,said the law creates a unifiedsystem across the state,which is especially impor-tant in Johnson County,

where a several cities createa “patchwork” of laws.

“You could break the lawfour or five times drivingacross the county,” he said.

But not everyone in theLegislature agrees with Hil-dabrand. Stephanie Clayton,a Republican from OverlandPark, voted against the billbecause open carry doesn’tfit the culture of her district,which includes OverlandPark and Prairie Village.Clayton said open carrymight have a place is ruralareas, but not in the metroarea.

“We don’t go to westernKansas and tell them how tolive,” she said.

Cities’ worries about thelaw go beyond weapons.The state enacting a law thatovertakes municipal laws isa violation of the state’sHome Rule Act, a 1960 lawthe gives cities and countiesthe right to make certain de-cisions without state ap-proval, Clayton said.

The Kansas League ofMunicipalities says the lawreduces local control. ErikSartorius, league executivedirector, said that the best

form of governance comesfrom those closest to thepeople: the cities and coun-ties.

“There are levels of frus-tration, but the law is thelaw,” Sartorius said.

The law is also a changefor police departments.

Police Capt. TimSchwartzkopf of the PrairieVillage Police Separtmentsaid the new law changesthe way officers interactwith the public.

Schwartzkopf is con-cerned because carrying agun in places like a city parkused to be illegal, but nowisn’t, meaning officers willhave to guess the intentionsof any person carrying agun.

“It’s hard to know what aperson is going to do be-cause you can’t get into theirhead,” he said.

Schwartzkopf said the po-lice department has used in-formation from other cities

about how to handle opencarry to prepare officers. Be-cause dispatchers are usual-ly the first to receive a callabout a gun, he said it wasespecially important to trainthem on new laws.

In Overland Park, therehasn’t been much of achange since the city re-pealed its open carry ban in2012, said Gary Mason, po-lice public information offi-

GOVERNMENT WATCH

Cities navigate a changing landscape of Kansas legislation on gun regulations

By LUKE RANKERSpecial to The Star

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cer.After the city allowed

open carry in October 2012,Mason said an individualwas carrying a gun at thecity’s soccer complex duringa youth game. Several con-cerned parents phoned po-lice, but the individual left.

Although police have seenan increase in calls aboutopen carry laws, there havebeen no major incident, Ma-son said. For him open carryis better than conceal carry.

“At least with open carrywe know where the gun is,”he said. “It’s the ones that wedon’t know about that causethe greatest concern.”

Shortly after Merriam re-pealed its ban on open carrya year ago, Councilman AlFrisby said an elderly couplecalled police after they saw aman with a handgun on acity sidewalk.

Frisby prefers concealedcarry, he said, because un-like open carry, concealedcarry permits require exten-sive background checks andtraining. With recent eventslike the Sandy Hook shoot-ing and the shooting at theJewish Community Center,Frisby said he’s concernedabout senior citizens andyoung people seeing a gunand not understanding thesituation.

“It’s the OK Corral justaround the corner,” he said.

Roeland Park repealed itslaw last year for financialreasons, City AdministratorAaron Otto said. At thattime, cities could ban weap-ons if they applied for a four-year exemption. That ex-emption came with stipula-tions like limiting entrancesto municipal buildings, plac-ing guards at entrances andinstalling metal detectors,which Otto said the citycouldn’t afford. During a re-cent remodeling of city hall,security features were add-ed to the building, but Ottowould not talk in detailabout those features.

The consolidated govern-ment of Wyandotte Countyand Kansas City, Kan., wasgranted a four-year exemp-tion last year, said spokes-

man Mike Taylor.The city has guards and

metal detectors at the court-house and city hall. The gov-ernment will assess the costof adding metal detectors toother municipal buildings,but Taylor said it’s unlikelythe city can afford it.

“My guess is it would costus millions of dollars,” hesaid.

Taylor said it’s not justfirearms that concern him.The law also prevents a cityfrom regulating the carryingof knives, which the law de-fines as a dagger, dirk,switchblade, stiletto, straightedge razor or any other dan-gerous or deadly cutting in-strument. The size of theweapon is not specified,Taylor said, so people couldcarry a sword legally.

“I could carry a Japanesewar sword on one hip, aTEC-9 on the other and anassault rifle on my back,” hesaid. “Perfectly legal.”

His main concern iscrowded buildings, like thecity’s municipal court whereplaintiffs and defendants areclose and a person with aknife could easily go unno-ticed.

“(Someone) could stabsomebody in the gut and getout of there before anyonenoticed,” he said.

Taylor, who lobbiedagainst HB 2578 for the con-solidated government,agrees that the law hindersthe cities home rule author-ity.

At the local level, citizenshave more of a chance toshare concerns and talk toelected officials than they doat the state level. Taylor saidit’s particularly frustratingbecause legislators, particu-larly Republicans, complainabout the federal govern-ment superseding states’rights and here they’ve nulli-fied local laws.

“It’s hypocritical,” he said.“They trampled on us withboth feet.”

Differing city gun lawshave caused controversy inthe past. In 2012 the Liber-tarian party attempted tosue Leawood and PrairieVillage over their gun bans,

but the case was dismissed.Earlier this year Grant Nel-son, a former lieutenant gov-ernor candidate for the Lib-ertarian Party, filed a lawsuitin Prairie Village after thecity barred him from carry-ing a gun in a public park.

Loren Stanton, a memberof the anti-gun violencegroup the Brady Campaign,began passing out “no gunsallowed” signs to local busi-nesses over a year ago. Hesaid he visited countlessbusinesses and about 200took signs, while another100 said they said theyagreed with banning opencarry, but didn’t want to loseany potential customers.

“I got a strong sense ofoverwhelming dislike foropen carry,” he said

Stanton said that open car-ry can send the wrong mes-sage. Carrying a gun intosensitive areas like church-es, near schools and at gath-erings at parks sends a hos-tile message, he said.

“I think it’s an unfriendlything,” he said, adding thereshould be public educationabout what’s appropriate. “Idon’t think you should walkinto a Wendy’s with anAR-15 or anything like that.”

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