Although we don’t agree in toto, Kansas law — for the time being — permits anyone who so desires to take a gun, concealed or not, wherever they want.
We suspect the vast majority of folks will never strap on a six-shooter, or slip a two-shot derringer into their pocket, but a certain number of people seem to think they’re safer if they have a deadly weapon readily available.
Rare circumstances might prove that to be true, but we fear accidents, in a multitude of situations, will prove the contrary.
Meanwhile, a certain number of thoughtful legislators are eager to find a way to prevent guns from being carried into hospitals, those set aside for mental patients as well as all others, and onto campuses of public schools, colleges and universities.
Gov. Sam Brownback recently proposed the Legislature set aside $24 million for metal detectors and security guards to confiscate guns from people entering state hospitals.
It is instructive to note this came at the same time legislators are charged with finding a way to overcome a $889 million shortfall in budgets for fiscal years 2018 and 1019, as well no one knows how many hundreds of millions of dollars to satisfy a lawsuit that proved public schools were grossly underfunded.
A move is afoot in the Legislature to give state hospitals, and perhaps other places where the presence of guns could be problematic, an exception to having to allow weapons on the premise.
Is that asking too much of those who have an ingrained notion that carrying a gun is not only their right but also to society’s advantage? Of course not.
We hope our three legislators — Kent Thompson and Adam Lusker in the House and Caryn Tyson in the Senate — will accept there are places where deadly weapons are more a concern than them being a proposed safety net.
— Bob Johnson
