Fourteen years ago, Kansas voters overwhelmingly passed a constitutional amendment protecting the right to carry and bear arms in the state.
Now, lawmakers are planning to revisit the state constitutional right to carry guns with a new amendment that would expand those rights to protect ammunition as well as firearm accessories and components.
The amendment also sets out that any law regulating guns in Kansas would be subject to the heightened legal standard of strict scrutiny, meaning the government would have to demonstrate a compelling interest to adopt a regulation in a narrowly tailored way.
Next week, the House Federal & State Affairs committee will take up a proposed constitutional amendment that is backed by 72 members of the House.
The hearing is set for 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Constitutional amendments require support from two-thirds of the Legislature – 84 in the House and 27 in the Senate – and must be ratified by the voters.
The proposed amendment would go on the ballot this November. Supporters say the amendment would not override protections established in the U.S. Constitution.
Supporters say the new amendment is necessary as lawmakers in various states across the country regulate guns at the fringes by trying to regulate ammunition and firearm parts.
“In recent years, firearms have become more protected based on Supreme Court cases,” said Republican state Rep. Blake Carpenter of Derby.
“What we’re starting to see now is lawmakers going after the components or the very items that make up the firearms or the ammunition,” he said.
Carpenter, the House speaker pro tem, said some lawmakers argue that the accessories are not part of the firearm and can be regulated more than the gun itself.
“If these individuals can regulate the ammunition or the components that make up the firearm, then the firearm becomes basically useless,” he said.
Carpenter said the Legislature needs to look at all aspects for how it can protect the constitutional right to carry a gun in Kansas.
In 2010, about 88% of Kansas voters approved a constitutional amendment that protected someone’s right to keep and bear arms for the “defense of self, family, home and state, and for lawful hunting and recreational use, and for any other lawful purpose.”
The proposed amendment would extend the constitutional protection to firearm accessories and components as well as ammunition. It also would include the new strict scrutiny standard that has been adopted in other states.
The constitutional strict scrutiny standard for guns was approved by Iowa voters in 2022 with 65% of the vote in 2022.
The strict scrutiny standard was part of a constitutional amendment in Missouri that established the right to keep and bear arms. It passed with about 61% of the vote in 2014.
Alabama also included the strict scrutiny standard in a constitutional amendment establishing the right to have a gun that passed with about 73% of the vote in 2014.
Democratic state Rep. Jo Ella Hoye of Lenexa, the ranking member on the Federal & State Affairs Committee, said she didn’t believe there was a need for another constitutional amendment to bolster gun rights.
“The Kansas Bill of Rights already grants the right to keep and bear arms for self-defense, hunting and recreational use,” said Hoye, who has advocated for gun-safety restrictions.
“Should Kansans also have the right to bear armor-piercing bullets that can be used to target police?” she asked.
“As a parent and a gun owner, I don’t support rewriting our state’s constitution to make it more dangerous for law enforcement officers to keep our communities safe.
“This amendment would be a disaster for public safety,” she said.
Hoye said the amendment could be confusing for the public.
“Some accessories, parts and ammunition already have federal laws on the books that regulate or prohibit them – even if these items are considered legal in Kansas, people could still be charged in a federal court and go to prison, as we’ve seen with differing state and federal laws for silencers,” she said.
Republican state Rep. Rebecca Schmoe of Ottawa, who has been a gun-rights advocate on a national level, has been rounding up sponsors of the bill in recent weeks.
Schmoe said she didn’t think the 2010 constitutional amendment went far enough to protect ammunition and firearm accessories.
She said the amendment would give the general public the opportunity to decide to what extent firearms should be constitutionally protected.
“The constituents of Kansas can have a voice and a vote for themselves on what they want the Kansas Constitution to say, how broadly we want to look at our gun rights,” she said.
Schmoe said the proposed amendment would not supersede the gun rights established in the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
“We’re not trying to be combative with the federal level,” Schmoe said. “We are simply trying to protect what we have in enshrined in Kansas.”
