Analysis: Kansas gun, voting rights go to voters (Nov. 2)

[shadowrider]

Gun rights and mental health advocates are leaving nothing to chance this fall as they push for passage of two amendments to the Kansas Constitution.

One issue establishes that Kansans have an individual right to own a gun. The second removes language granting legislators the authority to deny voting rights to the mentally ill, though no laws exist.

On first blush, it would seem their concerns are unfounded, given that legislators had little trouble over the past two years in securing a spot for the measures on the Nov. 2 ballot. But the advocates say they don't want voters to overlook either matter when they step forward to select from a slate of candidates for statewide and congressional offices.

"I personally consider this a no-brainer," said Patricia Stoneking, president of the Kansas State Rifle Association. "Nobody seems to have a problem with this."

The guns issue can be traced to a 1905 Kansas Supreme Court ruling in the case of City of Salina v. Blakesly, where the justices upheld that a man convicted of possessing a firearm didn't have the individual right to own a gun. The court ruled that "the people's right" to bear arms was a collective right. Only standing militias were entitled to have firearms and only to be used in defense of the state.

But for generations, Kansans have owned rifles, shotguns and handguns, used for hunting and personal protection. In 2006, legislators overrode Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' veto to make concealed carry legal.

http://cjonline.com/news/state/2010-10-03/analysis_kansas_gun_voting_rights_go_to_voters

[NoQuarter]

1. What's wrong with this picture?

[Glassunion]

3. The guy taking the photo has a purse?

Um...

There is no body attached to the sneakers and socks in the lobby?

Um...

If you look closely, you can see the person taking the photo several times in the re-reflection? Hence you are seeing a picture of the guy, and the guy slightly farther back in time. So, are we looking at a picture of a guy that took a picture before he took the picture?

Um...

They do not let you carry Baretta firearms inside... Are Glocks ok? How about rifles?

[friendly_iconoclast]

5. The photographer should have used a polarizing filter?

Don't keep us in suspense here....

[SteveM]

7. Perhaps the proper place for a "gun-free zone" sign?...

In Austin, Texas one of the schools in my neighborhood has a "no weapons" sign on the lawn -- facing toward the school, not toward the street. To my thinking, this would be better than letting any punk-a-thug know that folks were legally prevented from carrying a gun at the school.

Better yet, get rid of the "gun-free" zone signs. Gun-free zones aren't.

[old mark]

2. Great! I hope Kansas catches up with the rest of the country and becomes a shall issue state.

Some of the midwest and even western states have very convoluted gun laws and it is about time they be clarified and simplified as a step toward national carry licenses rather than state by sstate licenses.

FWIW, "mentally ill" persons have the right to vote by law in many states, including here in PA.

OP'er, thanks for this wonderful post!


mark

[pipoman]

4. Kansas is a shall issue state since 2006. n/t

[spin]

6. K&R (n/t)