This afternoon the KS House Passed the CCR (HB 2331) which contains HB 2074 and HB 2087 with a vote of 96-14. It now goes to Governor Brownback for his signature.

On roll call the vote was:

Yea - (96):

Alcala, Alford, Anthimides, Barker, Barton, Becker, Billinger, Boldra, Bradford, Bruchman, Brunk, Burroughs, Carmichael, B. Carpenter, W. Carpenter, Claeys, Clark, Concannon, Corbet, Couture-Lovelady, Davis, DeGraaf, Dierks, Doll, Dove, Edmonds, Esau, Estes, Ewy, Finch, Francis, Frownfelter, Garber, Goico, Gonzalez, Grosserode, Hawkins, Hedke, Hemsley, Henry, Hibbard, Highland, Hildabrand, Hill, Hoffman, Houser, Hutchins, Hutton, Johnson, D. Jones, K. Jones, Kelley, Kelly, Kiegerl, Kleeb, Lane, Lewis, Lunn, Lusk, Lusker, Macheers, Mast, McPherson, Merrick, Moxley, Osterman, Pauls, Peck, Phillips, Powell, Proehl, Rhoades, Rooker, Rubin, Ryckman, Ryckman, Sr., Sawyer, Scapa, Schroeder, Schwab, Schwartz, Seiwert, Sloan, Smith, Sutton, Swanson, Thimesch, Todd, Trimmer, Vickrey, Victors, Waymaster, Whipple, Whitmer, Williams, Wilson,

Nay - (14):

Ballard, Carlin, Clayton, Curtis, Finney, Gallagher, Henderson, Highberger, Kuether, Ousley, Ruiz, Ward, Winn, Wolfe Moore,

Present but Not Voting - (0):

Absent and Not Voting - (15):

Bollier, Bridges, Campbell, Hineman, Houston, Huebert, Jennings, Kahrs, Mason, O'Brien, Patton, Read, Suellentrop, Thompson, Tietze

Yesterday afternoon the KS Senate Passed the CCR (HB 2331) which contains HB 2074 and HB 2087 with a vote of 35-3.  

On roll call the vote was:

Yea - (35):

Abrams, Baumgardner, Bowers, Bruce, Denning, Donovan, Fitzgerald, Haley, Hawk, Hensley, Holland, Holmes, Kelly, Kerschen, King, Knox, LaTurner, Longbine, Love, Lynn, Masterson, McGinn, Melcher, O'Donnell, Olson, Ostmeyer, Petersen, Pilcher-Cook, Powell, Pyle, Schmidt, Smith, Tyson, Wagle, Wolf,

Nay - (3):

Faust-Goudeau, Francisco, Pettey,

Present but Not Voting - (0):

Absent and Not Voting - (2):

HB 2074 Summary

In 2013 we decriminalized accidentally going into a building that's posted with the no concealed carry sign. The clear intent was for that decriminalization to apply to both public and private buildings. Unfortunately an important provision that should have been placed in the 2013 bill was missed and a section of K.S.A. 21-6309 was not repealed as it should have been so it left accidentally carrying in a public building as a crime. This bill fixes that.

The other measure in this bill concerns the qualifications for obtaining a concealed carry permit. In 2009 the legislature determined that if someone met the federal and state guidelines for purchasing and possessing a firearm they should be afforded the right to carry the firearm. That measure was supported by both the KSRA and the NRA. To our knowledge there haven't been any incidents that would suggest that was unwise or not restrictive enough. Then in 2014 an ill-advised amendment was placed in HB 2578 and enacted making those qualifications stricter than existing federal or state law. The result was that some citizens who had committed minor crimes as juveniles but had clean records since becoming adults had their concealed carry permit revoked. It also resulted in nullifying the 5 and 10 year forgiveness rules where someone can purchase and possess after those terms expire but could still not obtain a concealed carry permit. This bill sets the qualifiers back to where they were prior to July 1, 2014.

HB 2087 Summary

HB 2087 is a cleanup measure from HB 2578 passed last year. A measure contained in HB 2578 was intended to protect federally licensed firearms dealers (FFL's), particularly those working from their homes, from being over regulated or prohibited by individual local jurisdictions. FFL's are very strictly regulated by the ATF and shouldn't be further restricted by local jurisdictions. The meat of last year's bill was all about preempting local control and the provision written regarding FFL's was clearly intended to give them the same protection. Unfortunately the wording in that provision didn't accomplish the intended outcome and in fact opened these FFL's up to local jurisdictional control.

As it turns out that provision didn't need to be placed in the bill at all because statute already provided the needed protections. So we simply asked that the section pertaining to this be repealed and removed from the existing statute. Then adding the words commerce and fee should cover all the bases.

***STATEMENT ON SB65 AND SESSION END***

I am truly disappointed that we were unable to push SB65 through the process to achieve passage of this bill. Before I say more I do want to remind everyone that we managed to get 4 bills sponsored this session and 3 of them have completed the process and will become law July 1, 2015. Let's not languish in negativity because 1 bill was unable to reach completion. Let's celebrate the measures we were able to achieve, one of which - Constitutional Carry - is virtually the gun rights coup of the century for Kansans.

SB 65 passed out of the Senate Committee but unfortunately the legislature's schedule just did not permit giving it the time needed to debate on the floor and be voted on. Please understand that the legislature has many issues to deal with and they are particularly tight on time for developing a budget and tax bill. The legislature is already in its 13th day of overtime. And they gave gun rights a considerable amount of time this year with the 3 bills that did complete the process. Let's appreciate all they have done for us this year and in the several past years and look forward to next year. Because it is not an election year SB 65 will remain on the agenda and can be taken up at the beginning of the next session in January 2016. I will give this bill my top priority in pushing for its passage at that time.

I know that SB 65 is extremely important to all public employees who wish to carry on the job when away from the office and utilizing a public owned vehicle or performing duties in the public domain. I sincerely feel bad that we were unable to achieve passage for this measure this session. It was not because we didn't try. But it is not over and the outlook is excellent for getting it passed next session.

I'd also like to remind everyone that we also managed to suppress a number of gun control bills initiated by the anti-Second Amendment folks this session. That is also a victory to be appreciated.

Thank you to everyone who supported our efforts by responding to our alerts over the last 5 months and contacting legislators to urge passage of favorable legislation. I hope that you will continue to support our efforts by joining the KSRA. We work hard for you and your membership matters because it is that strong membership and strong response when needed that garners respect for our issue and those funds are needed to pay for the expense of performing lobbying services. If you are already a member, please consider a donation of whatever amount you can afford to the KSRA PAC so we can also continue supporting pro-Second Amendment candidates for election to office so that we can maintain a pro-Second Amendment majority in both chambers of the Kansas Legislature. Thank you all! It is my pleasure to serve as KSRA President, Lobbyist and PAC Chair. - Patricia Stoneking