Free Republic

EAST ST. LOUIS — The event was called "Turn It In -- Turn It Around," and it was a chance for people with guns in their homes to turn them in and receive a $25 gift certificate to Schnucks grocery stores. From noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, sheriff's deputies stood by a safe storage truck, ready to collect any guns that were brought to the armory on 29th and State streets in East St. Louis. Eight guns, including a sawed-off shot gun, were collected.

On Thursday, it became legal for the first time in decades to strap on a holster and a firearm in Wichita, carrying it openly without a permit. And today, a group of city officials and business owners are looking for a way to reverse that city ordinance. “I’m not going to live in Tombstone,” Wichita Vice Mayor Janet Miller said. The city’s new open carry laws are a classic case of a state mandate, city officials say: Wichita’s city firearms ordinance, which prohibited the open display of a loaded firearm, has been in conflict with – or in legal terms,...

Wichita, Kansas -- It is now perfectly legal to walk down Wichita city streets with a loaded gun in plain sight. Some restrictions apply. "Well, you've got to have the safety on," says District Court Judge Phil Journey. "And the gun has to be in a holster and on your hip." Journey says, as a lawmaker for years, he followed a lot of changes in gun laws. Now the City of Wichita says it is enacting change. "For this one," says Journey, "In Kansas we have what's called a pre-emption law. We enacted that law in 2005 and we had...

Over the last two weeks the open carry movement scored a number of policy wins across America. From South Dakota, to Kansas, and Michigan, the right to open carry firearms is gaining political and legal traction. On July 10th the Wichita, KS City Council repealed the ordinance banning the open carry of handguns in order to comply with state law. In a subsequent “media advisory,” the Wichita city government explained that the “new ordinance allows for the lawful open carry of a firearm. The only exceptions, as provided by other state and city laws, are City Hall, the Courthouse and...

NEWTON — More and more people are getting permits to carry concealed weapons, both around the state and in Harvey County. According to figures released by the state attorney general, there were 12,408 permit applications in the just finished fiscal year of 2012, up from 9,148 in 2011. Since the law was enacted in 2006 allowing concealed carry in Kansas, there have been more than 44,000 permits issued. Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton said he has noticed an increase locally in people wanting permits to carry concealed weapons. “We are getting about 15 applications per month,” Walton said. “Just this...

Topeka police have identified the man shot and killed Thursday night during what they called an intrusion into a home, something they said was not “a random act.” Cpt. Jerry Stanley on Friday afternoon identified the deceased as Cyril K. Smith, 31. Stanley said Smith was one of at least two men who entered a residence at 1812 S.E. Pennsylvania shortly after 9 p.m. Thursday. Several residents were in the house at the time, Stanley said, and gunshots fired from within the house struck and killed Smith, who was pronounced dead at the scene. Police have not yet identified any...

A Wichita man shot a would-be robber in an early morning home invasion, police say. Wichita police Sgt. Jim Pinegar said a 64-year-old man walked into a house in the 3000 block of E. First Street, near Hillside, shortly after 3 a.m. Saturday. The resident of the home fired two shots at the other man using a .45-caliber gun, Pinegar said. One shot hit his arm. The man fled to a nearby Kwik Shop, according to a Sedgwick County dispatch supervisor. Within minutes, someone at the store called 911 to report a gunshot victim on scene. The resident of the...

Douglas County prosecutors are still reviewing whether to file charges against a 22-year-old Kansas University student who was accused of possessing a gun inside his scholarship hall room in April. A Lawrence attorney says the case illustrates constitutional questions because a student’s campus dorm room is considered a student’s home, where the Supreme Court has ruled it’s a fundamental right for residents to possess firearms for protection under the Second Amendment. “It’s an area of the law that is newly developing because of Supreme Court cases,” said defense attorney Carl Folsom, who is not involved in the case. “It seems...

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has signed House Bill 2491, the Sportsmen's Self Defense bill into law. The bill would allow hunters, fishermen and fur harvesters to carry a handgun in the field. The bill passed in the House by an overwhelming 113 to 8 vote in February, the state Senate passed the bill unanimously on March 15 before it was sent to the governors guest. The commonsense bill would allow an individual to carry a handgun for person protection while hunting, fishing or trapping as long as it is used for personal protection and not the unauthorized taking of wildlife....

Months after a new Kansas policy cut food stamps going to thousands of children, some lawmakers are mounting efforts to help those families. But they’re finding it’s difficult when the issue involves families with some members who are living in the country illegally. Legislative leaders don’t appear eager to tackle any illegal immigration issue in an election year. Earlier this week, senators in Topeka proposed an amendment to the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services budget that ultimately could have restored some aid to the children who are U.S. citizens but whose parents are illegal immigrants. But on Wednesday, the...

FAIRBANKS - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney maintained a strong lead with most of the results counted in the Alaska Republican presidential preference poll held today. With 4,225 votes, the former Massachusetts Governor took 32.6 percent of the statewide vote. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum took 29 percent, Texas congressman Ron Paul took about 24 percent and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich took 14 percent. At 10:30 p.m., 95 percent of the vote had been counted. Alaska was one of 10 states to participate in the Republican nomination process today and will divvy up 24 of its delegates according to...

TOPEKA — With protesters chanting and pounding drums outside the Capitol, Secretary of State Kris Kobach, one of the nation’s most prominent advocates of illegal immigration crackdowns, urged lawmakers Wednesday to force employers and law enforcement officers to help chase off illegal immigrants. “There’s no question that if a state passes laws to discourage illegal immigration … then you will see some self-deportation,” Kobach told the House State and Federal Affairs Committee. The protesters outside said those laws are more likely to produce discrimination, worker shortages and costly lawsuits. “If Mr. Kobach, who is promoting, not only here in Kansas...

WASHINGTON—Pope Benedict XVI named Msgr. Edward Weisenburger, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, bishop of Salina, Kansas. Bishop-elect Weisenburger, 51, succeeds Archbishop Paul Stagg Coakley, who was appointed archbishop of Oklahoma City on December 16, 2010. The appointment was publicized in Washington, February 6, by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States. Edward John Weisenburger was born December 23, 1960, in Alton, Illinois and attended Edison Institute and Eisenhower High School in Lawton, Oklahoma. He graduated from Conception Seminary College in Missouri, American College Leuven in Belgium, and St. Paul University Seminar in Ottawa, Canada,...

A little-known provision in Kansas law that allows the blind and other people with serious physical infirmities to carry concealed weapons in public places likely will not get reviewed by state lawmakers this session. Kansas legislators are expected to debate a proposal that would allow concealed carry permit holders to bring their guns onto college campuses and into many public buildings. But the chief proponent of that bill said Wednesday he has no plans to introduce legislation that would clarify a 2010 law change that removed the ability of the Kansas Attorney General to deny a concealed carry license based...

Duck if you’re headed into the state of Kansas. Mixed signals are flying fast. On the subject of undocumented immigrants, officials are all over the place. The secretary of agriculture wants to put them to work. The secretary of state wants to deport them. The governor vows to eradicate child poverty while taking food aid from the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants. Are we confused yet? Let’s start with the simplest piece. That would be Secretary of State Kris Kobach, whose position on illegal immigrants never changes. He wants them gone, period. The legal eagle is always very busy helping...

A bill in the Kansas House of Federal and State Affairs Committee would allow concealed carry permit holders to bring firearms onto college and university campuses. The committee heard testimony Wednesday and Thursday on House Bill 2353, introduced by Rep. Forrest Knox, R-Altoona. Under the current law, public and private buildings may prohibit entry of permit holders’ firearms with signs posted at every entrance, which the University currently does. According to the new bill, public places would not be able to prohibit firearms by licensed carriers unless it had “adequate security measures,” including security guards and metal detectors at all...

Pedro moved to the Kansas City area about 13 years ago and has held the same job for 11. Though he sometimes struggles to pay bills, he knows most people think he should receive no public aid. He’s an illegal immigrant. He doesn’t deserve handouts. He understands that. “I’ve never asked for anything for myself,” said Pedro, who didn’t want his last name used to protect his family. “Never. I just work. Work hard.” A new debate swirling around Kansas, though, isn’t about Pedro. It’s about two of his three children. They were born here, and one day they will...

An unlikely trio of House members has introduced an eclectic trio of gun-rights bills — one of which is a direct challenge to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other big-city mayors. With the support and aid of the Kansas State Rifle Association, Reps. Jana Goodman, Connie O'Brien and Jim Kelly came into the session locked and loaded, on a mission to make Kansas legally safer for gun sellers, gun manufacturers and corrections officers who want to conceal and carry. “It’s in the Constitution, and that right should be defended for self-protection,” Goodman said when asked why she is...

A pizza delivery driver says he was fired Thursday after scaring off a robber with a gun. Miguel Waide says Dominos Pizza fired him for violating company policy. Police say Waide was delivering a pizza at the Brentwood Apartments near Harry and Woodlawn Wednesday night. Waide tells Eyewitness News it was an unusally large order for the neighborhood and a suspicious man was hanging around by his car as he went up to the door. Waide says no one answered the door and he feared it was a set up. Waide went to his car and got a handgun out...

Wichita police are investigating a report of shots fired, involving a pizza delivery driver. It happened at an apartment in the 6600 block of E. Harry just before 10 p.m. Wednesday. Police said a Dominoes delivery driver arrived at the location to deliver a pizza, but no one answered the door. The driver returned to his car to get a gun, because he said he was concerned for his safety. The driver reported to police a man approached him from behind and tried to rob him, as the driver opened the trunk of his car. The delivery driver said he...