The Kansas attorney general has denied a request by the University of Kansas to ban guns on certain parts of campus as colleges craft policies around a new state law.
KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little told the University Senate that her request to make high security labs and other areas exempt from a new campus carry law was denied Oct. 6, according to the Lawrence Journal-World. Those areas contain dangerous materials such as pressurized gas cylinders, rocket fuel and other combustible materials, and, according to the chancellor, firing a gun around them would be “disastrous.” Despite this, the state attorney general denied KU’s attempt to ban concealed guns in those locations.
The denial comes as public colleges across the state are submitting school policy proposals to comply with a new law that permits concealed handguns on campuses starting in July 2017. The law requires colleges to allow guns in any buildings on campus that don’t have adequate security measures to keep all guns out, such as campus police officers or metal detectors.
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None of the proposed policies have been made public, but many schools are working with their campus communities to draft restrictions designed to ease concerns that have been voiced about the law.
The Kansas Board of Regents will consider the policies during its October and November meetings.
The attorney general’s response to KU’s proposed restrictions shows that weapons bans must be limited in scope regardless of the reasoning behind them.
“In making the policy there were some things that we tried to include that had to have a review by the attorney general,” Gray-Little said of the proposed security bans. “We have not been given the go-ahead to include that.”
Gray-Little did say the attorney general approved a policy that would require all concealed guns in campus buildings to be carried in holsters.
The University of Kansas has several buildings that could have been considered “high security,” including engineering labs and the University of Kansas Medical Center.
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