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Opponents Of Campus Gun Law Face Tough Fight In Kansas Statehouse

Stephen Koranda
/
KPR/File photo

Some student and faculty groups have voiced their opposition to a law that will allow concealed guns at universities, but they face an uphill battle in the Kansas Statehouse. A state law will allow concealed weapons on college and university campuses starting in 2017.

Republican state Rep. Brett Hildabrand supported the bill and points out that it passed with big majorities.

“I don’t foresee that changing, just for the fact that the state of Kansas is a very pro-Second Amendment state, and I don’t know that we’d go back on that,” Hildabrand says.

Democratic state Rep. John Wilson would like to the change the law, but he says he hasn’t heard much from voters about it.

“It is certainly a tough road, but we shouldn’t back down from issues that are tough, and I’ll certainly do my part. But it’s a lot easier to do the work when we have a whole choir of Kansans,” Wilson says.

Wilson expects an effort to change the law, which allows people to carry guns into most government buildings. Universities were given an exemption to the law that ends in 2017.

Stephen Koranda is the managing editor of the Kansas News Service, based at KCUR. He has nearly 20 years of experience in public media as a reporter and editor.