Gov. Sam Brownback tells reporters he has not yet decided whether to sign or veto a bill that would exempt publicly-owned health care facilities from a requirement to allow concealed firearms starting July 1.

A bill that would exempt publicly owned health care facilities from having to allow concealed weapons arrived on Gov. Sam Brownback’s desk Monday, but Brownback said he hasn’t decided whether he’ll sign or veto it.

“We’re looking at it, listening to individuals closely and carefully,” Brownback said during a brief news conference.

During debate on the bill in both chambers last week, lawmakers gave conflicting accounts of what they had heard from the governor. Some said he had indicated he would sign the bill while others said he would veto anything other than the counter proposal endorsed by the National Rifle Association, which was soundly defeated in the Senate.

“I don’t recall doing either, but I had a lot of negotiations with a lot of people where a lot of ideas were thrown out,” Brownback said. “And I may well have acted positive or negative towards any number of those.”

“These are heart-felt, difficult issues,” he went on to say. “This is a strong Second Amendment state, so you’re trying to address those issues. There are legitimate concerns on behalf of KU Medical Center, the behavioral hospitals, so you’re trying to balance those. But I had any number of negotiations where lots of different ideas were thrown out and reactions could have been interpreted many ways.”

In 2013, Brownback signed a bill into law that requires virtually all state and municipally owned buildings other than K-12 school buildings to allow people to carry concealed firearms inside, unless they provide adequate security, including metal detectors and armed guards, to prevent anyone from bringing weapons inside. But they were allowed four years to come into compliance with the law, a period that expires at the end of this month.

The University of Kansas hospital pushed hard to extend its exemption permanently, arguing that it would become the only hospital in a seven-county metropolitan area where concealed guns were allowed.

Students and faculty from state college and university campuses also lobbied for a bill that would keep concealed weapons out of their campuses. Public hospitals and community mental health centers also asked to be excluded from the upcoming mandate. But neither the House nor Senate Federal and State Affairs Committees would endorse any of those proposals.

The tipping point came when the Brownback administration asked for a $12.5 million appropriation to install security at the state’s four psychiatric hospitals, which many people argue are underfunded and understaffed as it is, especially Osawatomie State Hospital, which has lost its certification to receive Medicare reimbursements.

The bill that was finally agreed to would exempt those state psychiatric hospitals, the University of Kansas hospital in Kansas City, Kan., publicly owned hospitals such as Lawrence Memorial Hospital, municipally owned adult care homes and indigent health care clinics. But it would not exempt college and university campuses.

That bill passed the Senate on Thursday, 24-16, and the House, 91-33.

Brownback has 10 days to sign or veto the bill. If he takes neither action, it would become law without his signature.