Kansas University isn’t about to let anyone carry a weapon on campus, and that means campus planners are going to work trying to figure out just where, when and how new signs prohibiting the concealed carrying of handguns will be posted atop Mount Oread.

“The message is: Don’t even think about it,” said Todd Cohen, a university spokes-man. “There’s no weapons of any kind. It’s a long-standing policy that we have, to protect the safety of all our students, faculty and staff.”

The new KU signs – to be placed at entrances to the university, and possibly at selected or perhaps all buildings campuswide – will be among those going up in Lawrence and across the state in the coming weeks, as businesses and other employers decide whether to opt out of a state law that allows permit holders to carry concealed handguns in the state.

The law, passed earlier this year, already prohibits and will continue to prohibit license holders from taking guns into schools, colleges, drinking establishments, day care centers, religious buildings and other specific locations. But some, such as KU, will post signs anyway.

Other businesses will be left to decide for themselves. The state plans to issue its first licenses Jan. 2, and on Tuesday the Kansas Attorney General’s Office released its rules and design for signs that businesses can use to prohibit concealed carry on their properties.

Hallmark Cards Inc. is poised to put new signs at its 650,000-square-foot Lawrence production center, where more than 800 employees make greeting cards, stickers, ribbons and other products. Hallmark recently posted signs at the plant that include language based on a similar law in Missouri.

“No Weapons Allowed,” the signs say. “The possession of any weapon, including concealed firearms, is prohibited on this property.”

Kansas plans to issue its first licenses for the concealed carrying of handguns Jan. 2, and on Tuesday the state Attorney General's Office issued rules and a design for a sign that businesses can use to prohibit concealed weapons on their properties.

But rules for the Kansas law are specific about what must be included: Each sign must be at least 8 inches by 8 inches; its graphic – a black silhouette of a handgun, surrounded by a red circle with a line running diagonally through it – must be displayed on a white background; and the sign must be “displayed so that those entering the building will likely see it.”

Mary Beth Brown plans to do whatever it takes to make sure the Hallmark plant’s longtime prohibition fits within the law and resulting regulations.

“I’m concerned about the safety of our work force,” said Brown, the center’s manager.

John Geery won’t be placing a sign order. The manager of Jayhawk Pawn & Jewelry, 1804 W. Sixth St., isn’t particularly worried about the safety of himself or anyone else at the shop, which he bills as the premier gun dealer in Lawrence and much of the region.

“We’re pretty well armed,” Geery said. “Anybody that would try to get wise with a gun in this store would get killed real quick.”

Besides, he said, posting the state-approved sign only would confuse customers.

“People bring guns to us all day long,” he said. “It would in effect say, ‘I don’t want to do business with you anymore.'”

Maley Wilkins, community bank president for Peoples Bank in Lawrence, plans to check out the design and rules for posting signs. The information is available from the Attorney General’s Web site, www.ksag.org.

“We, of course, don’t want people bringing guns into our banks,” Wilkins said. “If there’s anything we can do to ensure that, we will do that.”