An overflow crowd stands outside the Old Supreme Courtroom of the Statehouse as a House committee hears testimony on a bill to repeal a law allowing people to carry concealed weapons on college and university campuses, public hospitals and other government-owned buildings.

Topeka ? A Kansas House committee heard impassioned testimony Wednesday on a bill that would allow public colleges, universities and other local governments to continue barring people from carrying concealed weapons in public buildings.

The hearing came one day after a Senate committee voted down an identical bill.

Similar to the Senate hearing last week, an overflow crowd turned out to testify on the bill, forcing many people to stand outside the hearing room listening through a loudspeaker or watching any number of live streams that people inside were posting on social media.

The vast majority of those who testified were from campus faculty and student organizations, hospitals, nursing homes and the general public speaking in favor of the bill.

An overflow crowd stands outside the Old Supreme Courtroom of the Statehouse as a House committee hears testimony on a bill to repeal a law allowing people to carry concealed weapons on college and university campuses, public hospitals and other government-owned buildings.

“All of us have the right to decide if, when and how we want weapons to enter our homes. Residents of nursing homes must not and should not be treated any differently,” said Rachel Monger of LeadingAge Kansas, which represents nonprofit nursing homes, including municipally owned adult care homes.

Under a law passed in 2013, nearly all government-owned facilities in Kansas must begin allowing people to carry concealed firearms into their buildings starting July 1 unless the governing bodies that operate those buildings provide adequate security to ensure that no one can bring in weapons.

House Bill 2074 would allow them to continue banning weapons from those buildings indefinitely.

A survey conducted last year by the Docking Institute of Public Affairs at Fort Hays State University found that 70 percent of the faculty and staff at Kansas Regents universities supported changing current law so that handguns are not allowed inside campus buildings.

At the University of Kansas, officials said recently that they plan to spend about $1 million on security equipment to keep guns out of athletic events at Allen Fieldhouse and Memorial Stadium.

Jo Ella Hoye, Lenexa, from the group Kansas Moms Demand Action, said she and many other parents would not allow their children to go to college in Kansas if concealed weapons are allowed on campuses.

“I am disappointed that my son won’t be able to attend the University of Kansas or other public colleges and universities in our state some day due to the risks that guns on campus would create,” she said.

Only three people showed up to speak against the bill, including a National Rifle Association lobbyist.

Unlike last week’s Senate committee hearing, House committee members engaged directly with those who testified, asking questions and even challenging them on points they had tried to make.

Rep. Blake Carpenter, R-Derby, for example, asked supporters of the bill, “In your belief, is the Second Amendment a privilege or a right?”

“I think that Justice (Antonin) Scalia said in the (District of Columbia v.) Heller decision that it was within the rights of the states to limit public carrying of weapons, and he specifically mentioned schools and public buildings,” Rabbi Moti Rieber of Kansas Interfaith Action said.

The Heller case was a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down a Washington, D.C., ordinance that banned the possession of handguns in the district. It also established that the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees a personal right to bear arms, as opposed to a collective, societal right.

There were challenges to people who opposed the bill as well. Jay Atkins, an opponent of the bill who didn’t identify where he was from, also referred to Scalia’s decision in the Heller case during his testimony, and Rep. Boog Highberger, D-Lawrence, challenged him on that issue.

“Isn’t it true in the Heller decision that the Supreme Court and Justice Scalia pretty clearly acknowledged that states have the right to ban concealed weapons in public places?” Highberger asked.

“I don’t agree with that particular portion of the ruling,” Atkins said, prompting laughter to break out in the hearing room.

Rep. Kristey Williams, R-Augusta, for example, asked how hospitals and nursing homes are ensuring security for their patients and residents now, other than posting signs that say guns are not allowed.

Chad Austin of the Kansas Hospital Association said local hospitals have developed their own individual procedures and only a small number have chosen to allow guns inside.

“If you do allow this, there are some legal questions as to what happens when someone comes to the emergency room. Are we allowed to go ahead and disarm that individual before we treat them?” he said. “There are some federal aspects related to that with EMTALA, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act. Those are the things that are going on, and so each of the hospitals has been trying to prepare for it as we get to July 1.”

Committee chairman Rep. John Barker, R-Abilene, said he planned to give the committee “plenty of time” to read through and digest the voluminous written testimony that was submitted, and he indicated he did not plan to bring the bill up for a vote in the committee in the immediate future.