Concealed carry classes get started
By STEPHANIE FARLEY
Morning Sun Staff Writer
Eight-hour gun safety courses are starting to pop up in Crawford County in anticipation of the Kansas Attorney General's Office issuing its first concealed carry permits in January 2007.
Kansas' concealed carry law was passed during the 2006 legislative session, making Kansas the 48th state to allow concealed carrying of guns - Illinois and Wisconsin remain. The law took effect July 1, but permits won't start being issued until Jan. 1, 2007.
The attorney general's office is handling the background checks and permits for the law. Attorney General Phill Kline named Charles Sexson director of the state's Concealed Services this month.
As of July 19, Kline said an estimated 4,000 applications had been picked up at sheriff's offices across the state. The attorney general's office has received more than 115 completed applications. He anticipated the state having several thousand applications pending by Jan. 1.
Part of the application process involves completion of an eight-hour weapons training course required by the law.
The Bone Creek Gun Club is having its first concealed carry class today and Saturday.
Crawford County Sheriff's Deputy Bob Peters, who will be teaching the course with two other instructors, recommends that people consider what they're getting into before taking the course and applying for a concealed carry permit.
"The biggest thing I think would be for people to seriously think about what they're doing," Peters said.
Peters was a firearms instructor for the Pittsburg Police Department before moving to the sheriff's office and received his teaching certification through the attorney general's office for the concealed carry course.
At least two hours of the course deal with legal issues concerning concealed carry, including use of deadly force. Peters said he was glad for that, hoping it will make people think a little more about the consequences of firing a gun.
"You can guess 500 different scenarios of what would happen that you would use it (gun) and sure enough, you'd be involved in 501," Peters said.
Roger Lomshek, treasurer for the Bone Creek Gun Club, said the class was made up of about half experienced shooters and half novices. Basic safety and range time will also be part of the course, he said.
"There are a lot of people out there who have misconceptions that they can draw their gun to fix every solution," Lomshek said. "And it's the least desirable thing to do, and we want to make sure everybody understands that."
The attorney general's office may issue a four-year gun permit to any Kansas resident who's a U.S. citizen, at least 21 years old, has no felony record, completes eight hours of approved gun safety training and passes a background check.
The attorney general's Web site at
www.accesskansas.org/ksag includes a link visitors can click on and sign up for more information on the concealed carry law.
* The Gun Safe, at 115 W. Fifth St., in Pittsburg, is also planning to have concealed carry classes. For more information on the classes, contact The Gun Safe at (620) 231-2231.
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