CONCEALED CARRY OF WEAPONS

Kansas is one of only four states that does not have a concealed carry law of some type.  Thirty-seven states are considered "right to carry" states, which means state officials must issue a concealed carry license to someone that qualifies for it.  In the remaining nine states, officials have the discretion as to whether they should issue a concealed carry license to someone who qualifies.  Last week, the House debated and approved the Personal and Family Protection Act by a 78 to 45 vote.  

If put into law, the PFPA will allow qualified applicants to receive a concealed weapons licenses from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation starting January 1, 2005.  The original application fee is $110, and the renewal fee if $50.  These licenses will have to be renewed every four years.  The licensee could elect to either have a card similar to that of a Kansas driver's license or have a special denotation placed on their current driver's license or identification card. 

To receive a license, applicants must meet certain qualifications.  For example, they must be at least twenty-one years of age and physically able to handle a weapon safely.  To be approved for a license, applicants cannot have a felony conviction, cannot have been placed on felony diversion, cannot owe child support, and they must complete a weapons safety and training course, among other criteria. 

Strict rules regarding the limits of where a person can carry a concealed weapon have also been included in this legislation.  Some of the places where a licensed person may not carry a weapon are any place where alcohol is dispensed, police stations, jails, courtrooms, schools or universities, the Kansas State Fair, and others.  Business owners and employers will be able to legally prohibit customers and employees from carrying concealed weapons on their premises. 

Proponents of the legislation argued that people have a right to defend themselves and that the crime rate has gone down in states that allow concealed carry.  They point to 11 national studies that show the number of violent crimes has gone down due to concealed carry laws.  The U.S. Department of Justice estimated that 2.5 million people have been able to prevent being the victim of violent crime because of concealed carry. 

Opponents of the bill argue that the measure inappropriately takes away local control.  Those who voted against the bill claim that allowing more guns on the street will lead to more violence.  They also believe that by allowing people to carry firearms would make others feel less secure because they don't know who could be carrying a gun.  They also claim that those who don't want guns on their property would have to put up metal detectors to keep guns out. 

I supported this legislation, which is more restrictive than most of the other states' laws permitting concealed carry. 

The bill, having cleared the House, is now over in the Senate.  Proponents of Concealed Carry legislation had a long-awaited guest testify in the Senate Federal State Affairs committee meeting on Monday, March 15, 2004.  Texas State Representative Suzanna Hupp gave an emotional account of a 1991 tragedy that resulted in the death of her parents. 

At the time the accident occurred, Hupp had been carrying a gun illegally after being convinced by a friend to do so for safety reasons.  In fear of getting caught with her gun and losing her chiropractic license, she had been leaving her gun in her vehicle.  Hupp argued that if she would have been able to carry her gun, her mother and father might still be alive today. 

Her sad story is set in a busy Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, TX in the middle of the day.  While eating dinner with her parents, a truck plowed into the restaurant through the window.  Assuming the crash was an accident, Representative Hupp rose to help the injured when she heard the distinctive sound of gun fire.  Her father immediately flipped a table up on its side, and Rep. Hupp and her family crouched behind it.

Every few seconds she would hear gunfire, and as it grew closer and closer, Hupp realized that this was not an accident or even a robbery.  The driver of the truck was walking from person to person, killing them one at a time.  As the madman approached, Hupp thought about her gun, and she knew that she could shoot this man and stop the massacre.  But as she reached for her purse, she realized she did not have her gun.  In fear of breaking the law, Hupp had left her gun in her vehicle, leaving her and her family unable to protect themselves.

It was then that Hupp's father decided that he was going to try and stop the shooter.  Hupp tried desperately to keep him from trying, but to no avail.  After her father rose to confront the man, he was shot and killed.  Hupp watched her father get murdered just a few feet in front of her.

Luckily, the confrontation changed the shooter's direction, and he bypassed the table that was hiding Hupp and her mother.  When he got far enough away, Hupp grabbed her mother and they made a run for the door.  When she made it outside, the cops had finally begun to arrive.  Hupp immediately found a phone to contact her family.  At one point, she turned to ask her mother a question, but her mother wasn't there.

Hupp returned to the restaurant, yet she still could not find her mother.  She was still inside.  When Hupp had run for the door, her mother had run to her father.  Later, the police told her that they had seen the shooter walk up to her mother as she cradled her dying father, and with no remorse or even a second thought, the shooter held the gun up to her mother's forehead and pulled the trigger.

In just a few moments, Hupp had been orphaned, 23 people were dead and more than 20 were wounded.  The gun that she normally carried, the gun that could have saved the lives of her parents, was lying in her vehicle because the state said she was not allowed to carry it.

"I would gladly be in jail right now if that meant that my parents would still be alive today...if it meant that they would have lived to see their grandchildren," said Hupp. 

After telling her tragic story, Hupp acknowledged the fact that she could have missed the shooter or her gun could have jammed.  She then stated that either way the outcome would have been different.  Her parents might still have been murdered, but then again they might be alive.

Representative Hupp has served in the Texas House of Representatives since 1996.  She has told this sad story in over twenty states in her continued effort to make it legal for citizens to protect themselves by concealing and carrying a weapon. 

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