Lyon County District Court Chief Judge Merlin Wheeler is recommending against the use and carrying of firearms inside the courthouse by county attorneys and assistants.
Wheeler spoke to Lyon County commissioners at Wednesday morning’s study session. Wheeler said with the passage of Kansas Senate Bill 19, the right to carry inside a courthouse is extended to county attorneys and their assistants.
“This bill also granted authority to county commissioners and chief judges to make certain rules and regulations independent to Senate Bill 19,” Wheeler said.
Wheeler said the bill allows a select population with little or no training with firearms to carry inside a courthouse.
“This exception is a pretty significant concern for the courts,” Wheeler said. “I fully intend, no matter what position (of the commissioners), to issue an administrative order to prohibit the use of firearms by anyone other than security and prohibit firearms from being in any courtroom ...”
Wheeler said the administrative order also will prohibit firearms in hallways adjacent to where courtrooms are located and where courtroom staff work and also including the jury assembly room.
Wheeler said when a firearm is put in the hands of a prosecutor, you run the risk of someone in the courthouse taking the firearm and using it to inflict harm.
After Wheeler was done speaking, Lyon County Attorney Marc Goodman spoke regarding the issue. He said Senate Bill 19 arose out of Wyandotte County and was aimed primarily from the ability to carry from the courthouse steps to where they park. Goodman also said Kansas already has the right to conceal and carry.
“Those same requirements are placed on prosecutors that you can’t just go buy a firearm and walk into the courthouse with it,” he said. “You have to be certified.”
Goodman said the exemption was made through Senate Bill 19 because those individuals aren’t classified as law enforcement.
Goodman also spoke to his staff and only one was certified and has attended classes to conceal and carry. He said that staff member had no intention of carrying the firearm into the courthouse.
“Personally I don’t see the reason why it would ever be necessary for a prosecutor to carry a firearm in a courtroom,” Goodman said.
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