Buying a gun in Kansas was not very difficult or complicated in 1970. State statutes provided only that the purchaser furnish “reasonably positive” identification, such as a driver’s license, or a Blue cross hospitalization card and a social security number. A buyer would also be required to sign a purchase form stating that he or she was not a convicted felon. Purchasers of ammunition were only required to provide their name, address, birthdate and either driver’s license or social security number.

Law enforcement agencies were on the lookout for a 16-year-old girl who had been reported missing from the Midwestern Music and Art Camp at the University of Kansas.

An article detailed recent police reports in Lawrence, including the theft of a new motorcycle valued at $600, a $500 trumpet taken from a room in Murphy Hall, and that a pair of brothers, aged 13 and 15, were continually harassing younger children in the area of East Heights School at 15th and Haskell.