After 4-Year Delay, Kansas Colleges Move to Carry Out Campus Gun Law

For three years, Kansas’ public colleges have known a guns-on-campus law would take effect. That day is drawing closer and closer.

In 2013 state legislators enacted the law, which requires that licensed handgun owners be allowed to carry their concealed weapons on public-college campuses, but the colleges were able to opt out for four years. Starting on July 1, 2017, though, they’ll have to comply. And this month they’re submitting their proposed policies to the Kansas Board of Regents for approval.

In the run-up to the law’s effective date, Kansas colleges have joined the ranks of institutions nationwide that have grappled with how to carry out a law that many people on campuses view as a threat to public safety or academic freedom.

At Kansas State University, administrators approached the task by doing their research. “Our mission was really fairly narrow because our policy had to align with their [the regents’] policy, which also has to align with state law,” said Jeffery B. Morris, vice president for communications and marketing and a member of the university’s advisory group on weapons. “So we did a lot of research, we talked to other universities, we visited with states that have had concealed carry.”

The university also held several forums for students, faculty, and staff who sought to weigh in.

As in other states, hand-wringing over campus carry at Kansas State has largely to do with the language of the law, not how it will be put into practice.

“Clearly the university does not have the power to change the law,” said Jessica Van Ranken, Kansas State’s student-body president and another member of the advisory group. “We’re crafting a policy that will meet the standards of the law in a way that will work for our campus.”

Kansas is the latest state to put campus carry into effect. When a similar law took effect in Texas, in August, it was met with student protests and a handful of faculty resignations. Compared with the Texas law and others across the nation, Kansas’ campus-carry legislation will be uncommonly permissive.

“Kansas is almost an outlier when it comes to really allowing guns virtually all over campus,” said Andy Pelosi, executive director of the Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus. The Kansas chapter of Students for Concealed Carry could not be reached for comment, but similar groups have argued that such laws allow people on campuses to defend themselves and others against mass shooters and other assailants.

In Texas, for example, only licensed gun owners may carry concealed handguns on campuses. But firearm owners in Kansas need not obtain a permit or receive training to carry a concealed handgun, in accordance with a 2015 law, so nearly anyone over 21 can do so.

‘Good Luck With That One’

Other states also designate campus zones where concealed carry is not allowed, such as certain laboratories and single-occupancy offices. Bernadette Gray-Little, the departing chancellor of the University of Kansas, told the University Senate this month that a request for similar exemptions had been denied. The university released its draft policy this week.

Guns will be allowed in labs with biohazards or with explosive material, said Ron Barrett-Gonzalez, president of the university’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors. The case for campus carry in that setting, Mr. Barrett-Gonzalez said, falls apart pretty quickly.

“A lot of people would say, ‘Oh, what if a bad person with a gun comes?’ You know what, if you are in a facility filled with fire and explosion hazards, there is no circumstance in which a single gunshot is wise or good,” he said.

State law does allow buildings with security measures that keep out all weapons to also ban concealed weapons. But installing metal detectors and hiring security guards would be prohibitively expensive for the colleges.

“In the building that I work in, I think we have 32 doors all the way around. And metal detectors are running $1,500 bucks apiece. Plus a security guard?” Mr. Barrett-Gonzalez said. “Good luck with that one.”

Cindy Bontrager, vice president for administration and finance and a member of the advisory group at Kansas State, said the institution is considering temporary security measures for events like sports games or lecture series. Some restricted-access buildings that require key cards to enter or other screening measures may also be exempt from concealed carry. The university has a nuclear reactor on its campus that might also fall under that “restricted access” exemption, Ms. Van Ranken said.

In Texas, professors at public colleges, by and large, have been able to declare their offices gun-free. Not so in Kansas. Elizabeth Dodd, an English professor at Kansas State, said she’s had an open-door policy for years. But when the law goes into effect, “my door will be closed,” she said.

Exactly how the law will look on campuses will become more clear in the coming months. The Board of Regents will review the colleges’ submitted policies at meetings this month and next, and there is a slight chance the state law will change during the spring legislative session.

“Once the policy is approved, we can begin conversations about implementation on campus,” said Timothy C. Caboni, vice chancellor for public affairs at the University of Kansas, in an emailed statement.