Stop cowering and start passing gun safety measures, Kansas lawmaker tells colleagues

TOPEKA — Mary Snipes is mad. She’s been mad since 2018, when her son was shot and killed in Junction City.

“I became the maddest person ever. I am still a mad mom,” Snipes said to the rows of her fellow red-shirted “Moms Demand Action” advocates gathered on the second floor of the Statehouse on Thursday. “I am not the same.” 

Snipes recounted her journey of navigating grief to become a gun control advocate as one of several speakers at the annual gun safety event. Advocates chatted with each other before leaving to urge legislators to reject a proposed state constitutional amendment that would protect gun rights and instead implement a safe storage law. 

In the Republican-dominated State Legislature, where some consider guns a God-given right and more than 60 lawmakers have sponsored the amendment,  this may be an uphill battle. 

House Concurrent Resolution 5020 would amend the Kansas Bill of Rights to place possession and use of ammunition, firearm accessories, and firearm components under the shield of the state constitution. The bill proposes that gun restrictions be examined under the strict scrutiny standard, the highest level of review a court can use. 

By doing so, gun rights would have the same level of protection as the freedoms of speech and religion. Current gun laws restricting the access of felons and domestic abusers to guns could be invalidated. 

In Kansas, anyone 18 or older and legally entitled to possess a firearm can openly carry a firearm in public without a license or permit, according to the  U.S. Concealed Carry organization. Kansas does not require licenses to purchase handguns or require registration of firearms. Background checks are not required for private sales. 

An average of 450 Kansans are killed by firearms each year, according to Everytown statistics. Of these deaths, 68% — approximately 311 each year — are due to suicide. 

Democratic Reps. Jo Ella Hoye and Linda Featherston, both gun safety advocates who have worked with “Moms Demand Action” in the past, spoke in favor of safe storage measures. 

Hoye said the proposed amendment was extreme and could make law enforcement’s jobs more difficult. 

“We need to continually look at how the decisions we make here in Topeka are impacting the safety in our communities,” Hoye said. 

Featherston has introduced House Bill 2413, which would require gun owners to use safe storage for firearms. 

“Legislators who cower to the gun lobby are the reason we cannot have nice things,” Featherston said. “It is time that they stand up, that they be as brave as every one of you, who go out in your moms shirt, which used to be a little scary to wear in public. For the children who are here, the students who are here today, if our legislators cannot be as brave as you, they need to find another job.”