On Tuesday, March 27, the Kansas State Rifle Association informed our members that gun control Senator Cindy Holscher had made a procedural motion to pull Senate Bill 551 from the Fed & State Affairs committee for immediate floor action in the Senate without a hearing.
SB 551 would give violent criminals yet another unfair advantage by putting firearms — and even stun guns — out of reach for law-abiding Kansans in their moment of need.
Disarming potential victims by threatening severe criminal penalties against anyone not locking up their firearm or stun gun only makes life easier for violent criminals on our streets, on college campuses, and even those illegally entering our homes.
Choosing an appropriate and safe method for storing a firearm or stun gun is a very personal decision base on many unique factors. Legislators do not know better than you do what happens in your own home and should not pretend that every individual interested in defending themselves looks and lives exactly the same.
There is no single “typical” stun gun owner just as there is no “typical” firearm owner. It is the responsibility of law abiding individuals, not the Kansas Legislature, to decide how to safely store firearms and other less-lethal tools of self defense.
Holscher’s motion was a blatant attempt to pass gun control legislation without even giving Kansans a chance to voice their opposition and the KSRA came out strongly in opposition to the motion as we already have to the bill itself.
We urged Kansans to contact their Senators immediately and urge them to oppose the procedural vote on SB 551. This unconstitutional attempt to criminalize law abiding Kansans who decide their personal situation allows them to safely keep their firearm or stun gun outside a locked box while at home should not be allowed to proceed under any circumstance, and definitely not without giving tens-of-thousands of impacted Kansans a chance to voice their vehement opposition.
On Wednesday, March 27, the Kansas Senate voted on the Holscher motion. On a vote of 9 in favor and 28 opposed, Sen. Holscher’s motion to circumvent the process and immediately work SB 551 criminalizing individuals who leave a firearm or stun gun unlocked in their home failed.
Here’s how each Senator voted:
On roll call the vote was:
Yea – (9):
Corson, Faust-Goudeau, Francisco, Haley, Holscher, Pettey, Reddi, Sykes, Ware,
Nay – (28):
Alley, Baumgardner, Billinger, Blasi, Bowers, Claeys, Dietrich, Doll, Erickson, Fagg, Gossage, Kerschen, Kloos, Longbine, Masterson, McGinn, O’Shea, Olson, Peck, Petersen, Pyle, Ryckman, Shallenburger, Steffen, Straub, Thompson, Tyson, Wilborn,
Present and Passing – (3):
Absent and Not Voting – (0):
Want to learn more about the rules of firearm safety and take responsibility for your own safe storage of firearms? Check out the resources we have listed on our site for your convenience!
