The Senate on Thursday plans to take up a pair of gun bills, including one that would prohibit the arming of domestic abusers.
Senate leadership had been hesitant to run the domestic-abuse bill after a committee added an amendment that would have only made throwing stars illegal if someone intends to use them unlawfully against another person. Under current law, possession of a throwing star is considered criminal use of a weapon.
Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning initially wanted a clean bill without amendments, just like the one that came out of the House with unanimous support. Denning said there’s support for the underlying bill and the time was right to run the bill on Thursday.
Among other things, the bill would make gun possession illegal for someone who has been convicted of a misdemeanor for domestic violence within the last five years.
The same ban would apply to fugitives, undocumented immigrants and someone with a restraining order against them for threatening an intimate partner or their child.
The Senate also will take up a bill requiring Kansas to recognize all valid concealed carry licenses and permits issued by other states.
A Senate committee removed a broad set of amendments tacked on in the House, including one allowing 18-year-olds to carry concealed weapons and another that let colleges and universities prohibit anyone from carrying a concealed gun on campus without a permit.
