LAWRENCE — The city of Lawrence is ditching a plan to add security measures that must be installed in some public buildings under a new state law in order to restrict concealed firearms.
The 2013 Personal and Family Protection Act allowed Lawrence and other cities to ban concealed weapons for four years before complying with a state law that says concealed firearms are allowed in public buildings unless the structures are equipped with security measures.
The city attorney’s office prepared for the end of the exemption by proposing that the city use more than $114,000 of the 2017 budget to purchase security devices, such as metal detectors, for four public buildings.
City Manager Tom Markus tells the Lawrence Journal-World that the plan was removed from the budget because of its expense. He says the city commission may revisit the issue.
