***SB45 PASSES COMMITTEE & ADVANCES TO HOUSE FLOOR***

Today the KS House Federal and State Affairs Committee passed SB45, the Constitutional Carry bill out of committee 15 - 8. The bill now advances to the full House where it will be scheduled for a floor debate and vote. Of the 23 committee members those that voted NO were Reps Tietze, Clayton, Concannon, Henderson, Hineman, Lusk, Wilson and Winn. Notable was the number of times Rep Wilson spoke against the bill claiming it "dismantles the current concealed carry law" and that if passed "dangerous people would be carrying concealed guns".

Several spoke for the bill during the debate with the most notable being Rep Steven Becker. Rep Becker said that when we first passed concealed carry in 2006 he did not like it one bit and was not for it at all but now that we have had it for 9 or 10 years the evidence is clear that Kansans are responsible citizens and that there have not been any of the predicted problems so he has changed his opinion of it in general.

The most humorous moment during the meeting was when Rep. Brunk, Chairman of the Committee referred to SB45 as "the bill otherwise known as the crash your email bill". Thank you to everyone who participated in that crash!

There was one very small technical correction made to the bill which was necessary because when the Revisor drafted the original bill the wrong section numbers were cited regarding criminal carrying of weapons so this amendment merely corrected those section numbers.

The bill now advances to the floor of the full House for a debate and vote. Please contact your KS Representative and strongly but POLITELY urge them to vote YES on SB 45. We are waiting to hear from the Speakers office what date the bill will be heard but will let you know as soon as we get that information.

If you do not know who your Representative is you can go to this link and put in your address and get their information.

Also, here is a link to the full House Roster with contact information. If you have time please contact all 125 Representatives and urge them to vote YES on SB45.