City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.

Unless the city pays to have metal detectors and guards at the entrances, about 50 public buildings will have to allow concealed firearms once a new state law goes into effect. As the date draws closer, city leaders are examining options.

“Because of disparate locations that so many of our operations are in, to try to provide security would be an overwhelming and hugely expensive task to accomplish,” said City Manager Tom Markus. “The state has handed us a fairly large challenge in that regard.”

The state’s Personal and Family Protection Act was passed in 2013, and allows concealed weapons in public buildings that don’t contain metal detectors and guards. The law included an exemption period, the length of which has been the subject of some debate.

The University of Kansas, for instance, is preparing for the law to take effect in July 2017. But city attorneys, as well as the League of Kansas Municipalities, have interpreted the exemption period differently. The city is preparing for the law to take effect in January 2018, in accordance with the language of the law before its most recent amendment, according to Assistant City Attorney Maria Garcia.

“Because that language happened after we had our original exemption in 2013, we are still interpreting the previous language that allowed us to have four years after we took it,” Garcia said. “And so, that’s our interpretation, that’s how we read it.”

In other regards, matters governing how the law will be handled are clearer. While KU has drafted policies regulating guns on campus, such as requiring people to keep some weapons in holsters and unloaded, cities, by statute, have no such power. Garcia said that as of a couple years ago, a provision was stricken from the law that allowed cities to regulate “the manner” in which firearms are carried.

“We would not be able to have language saying that someone has to have a holster or has to have the safety on, because that counts as regulating the manner in which it’s being carried,” Garcia said.

Instead, the city is limited to putting “adequate security measures” in place, such as metal detectors, metal-detector wands and guards. The use of security measures at building entrances would allow the city to prohibit guns in those buildings. But the cost of equipment and personnel limits how much municipalities can do.

As part of 2017 budget discussions, a plan was proposed, but ultimately not pursued, that would have put metal detectors and guards at four of the most frequented city buildings: City Hall, Lawrence Municipal Court, Lawrence Public Library and the police department’s Investigations and Training Center.

Those buildings were also deemed high priority because their visitors include “persons who may become impassioned and emotional during their visit,” according to the plan document. The estimated cost of that plan ranged from about $530,000 to $895,000, depending on personnel salaries. Markus said at the time that the proposal was stricken from the 2017 budget because of its expense, as well as an upcoming effort to consolidate locations.

Consolidating some city facilities would be one way to use metal detectors and guards more efficiently. The city owns the building that houses City Hall, but leases the building at 1006 New Hampshire St. where Lawrence Municipal Court is located. That lease is set to expire in 2017, but could be extended, according to City Attorney Toni Wheeler.

But Markus said no decisions have been made thus far and that the city continues to look at all options.

“We haven’t made any conclusions about any number of buildings or which buildings or which services we provide,” Markus said.

Markus also said any consolidation wouldn’t be in the “immediate future” and that the next public discussion of any measures regarding the new law will be a part of budget discussions in the spring.