Junction City legal counsel Katie Logan this week addressed the issue involving the open carry of firearms, which is now legal in Kansas. She informed the City Commission  that they can thank the Kansas Legislature for the inability of cities to regulate the open carry of firearms in public parks, or other public places.

Logan explained for at least the next four years cities can still, under an alternative security plan, prohibit the open carry of firearms in city buildings.

“But they cannot prohibit it in other city properties such as parking lots, parks, those sorts of facilities. Private businesses can still prohibit it, but cities can’t.”  Logan noted that on the Fourth of July many cities are going to have “city celebrations in their city parks, and they are not able to prohibit or in any way regulate the open carry of firearms. That’s what the State Legislature has mandated.”