The Kansas media’s bizarre, almost hopeful, countdown longing for a gun incidence on a
university campus tallied a non-event today. Someone found an unattended, stolen gun in an academic building at the University of Kansas.
“Two weeks into the fall semester, the first in which Kansas students can legally carry concealed handguns on campus, an unattended gun turned up Tuesday in a bathroom,” the story begins.
Later, readers learn the gun was reported stolen from Olathe. A stolen gun is an ominous sign, but someone who is willing to steal a weapon–stealing is illegal–probably isn’t too worried about breaking a carry and conceal law, should one exist.
Reporters in the Sunflower State began an odd countdown once school started at Kansas’ universities. They weren’t counting down to the first football game or school social event; they were counting down on the number of days until a university notched its first gun incidence.
The Daily Kansan, KU’s campus newspaper, published a timeline of the event, reporting that the unnamed student who found the weapon felt scared and shocked.
Four years ago, the Kansas Legislature adopted a law allowing individuals over the age of 21 to legally carry concealed weapons in public buildings unless security measures were in place to eliminate all concealed weapons. Universities and some other entities were given time to examine the installation of security measures like metal detectors before the law would take effect in their buildings. They punted and instead, lobbied hard during the 2017 session to receive a permanent exemption from the law. State owned hospitals received an exemption, but universities did not. Hence the ongoing countdown of despair in Kansas, where media are rubbing their hands together in hopes of the opportunity to blame legislators for a campus mishap.
No one was hurt and there was no imminent threat, a law enforcement officer told the Kansas City Star.
The countdown continues.
