TOPEKA — Gov. Sam Brownback has allowed a bill designed to keep concealed guns out of public hospitals and mental health centers to become law without his signature.
The governor acted Thursday and broke with gun-rights allies. The new law allows a permanent ban on concealed guns at state hospitals, other public hospitals, community mental health centers, publicly owned nursing homes and indigent clinics.
It also allows the University of Kansas Health System and the university’s medical school in Kansas City, Kansas, to ban concealed guns.
A 2013 state law required public buildings to allow concealed guns if those buildings lacked heightened security such as guards or metal detectors. Universities and public health facilities received a four-year exemption due to expire July 1.
The new exemption does not apply to universities.
