Kansas lawmakers OK bill to void local gun rules

[MindMover]

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators gave final approval Saturday to a bill that would nullify city and county gun restrictions and ensure that it's legal across the state to openly carry firearms, a measure the National Rifle Association sees as a nationwide model for stripping local officials of their gun-regulating power.

The House approved the legislation, 102-19, a day after the Senate passed it, 37-2. The measure goes next to Republican Gov. Sam Brownback. He hasn't said whether he'll sign it, but he's a strong supporter of gun rights and has signed other measures backed by the NRA and the Kansas State Rifle Association.

Kansas law doesn't expressly forbid the open carrying of firearms, and the attorney general's office has in the past told local officials that some restrictions are allowed. The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan., has prohibited the practice, but the bill would sweep any such ban away, except to allow cities and counties to prevent openly carried weapons inside public buildings.

The measure also would prevent cities and counties from enacting restrictions on the sale of firearms and ammunition, or imposing rules on how guns must be stored and transported. Existing ordinances would be void, and local governments could not use tax dollars for gun buy-back programs.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/05/kansas-guns-rights-nra/7371793/

[pipoman]

1. preemption

It is a common practice in law...Both federal preemption and state preemption are often enacted to stop patchwork of legality.

Oh, most of Kansas gun laws were already preempted. Open carry has been legal in all but Shawnee, Douglas, Johnson, and Sedgwick (And maybe Leavenworth and Wyandotte) for as long as I've lived here. Every year there are a few people who didn't know that it was prohibited in those counties who are arrested. I see nothing wrong with preemption of these laws other than there are certainly more urgent and important issues which could use the attention of law makers.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. The voters in Prairie Village don't want people walking around carrying guns

Why should that be ignored?

[pipoman]

4. Yes

In fairness 'some of the voters'...maybe even a majority. The voters have the same opportunity to influence state laws as people do anywhere else in the state.

Should someone driving through a municipality who is abiding by the laws of the state be subject to arrest and conviction at any time as they travel around the state?

Preemption is, again, to prevent an unreasonable patchwork of laws in a state or in the US as a whole. Ambiguity of the law results in acquittal and simetimes injustice.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. Actually no they don't have that same opportunity.

The Kochs have purchased the KS legislature.

[pipoman]

2. And thank dog

We're not spending precious tax dollars buying up $30 'tomato stake' shotguns for $50.