LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) - Beginning this fall, fans attending Kansas athletic events may have to pass through metal detectors to enter Allen Fieldhouse and Memorial Stadium as University of Kansas officials try to prevent people from taking concealed handguns inside.
A new law will allow concealed handguns on Kansas university campuses beginning July 1. The law allows schools to ban guns in certain buildings if other security, such as metal detectors, is provided. The university anticipates banning concealed weapons from athletic events where attendance is expected to be more than 5,000 people, The Lawrence Journal-World reported (https://bit.ly/2jUHeJb ).
A House committee had a hearing Wednesday on a bill that would grant universities, colleges and public hospitals a permanent exemption to the concealed carry requirement. But pro-gun lawmakers kept an identical bill from advancing out of a Senate committee Tuesday.
The Kansas Board of Regents must approve any security plan for buildings on campus, Regents spokeswoman Breeze Richardson said.
Deputy athletics director Sean Lester said fans attending men’s basketball games at Allen Fieldhouse should expect wands and portable metal detectors, and that the number of entrances may need to be reduced.
“We want the experience at Allen Fieldhouse to be a great one,” Lester said. “So we’re going to assess it thoroughly.”
Security measures at Memorial Stadium will probably be similar but the university is discussing how to implement them at the “antiquated” facility with several entry points, Lester said.
The security measures will cost more than $1 million, with funding from the Kansas Athletics’ operating budget, Lester said.
Allen Fieldhouse’s capacity is 16,300 and it routinely sells out for men’s basketball games. Memorial Stadium’s capacity is 50,000, said Jim Marchiony, athletics department spokesman. Men’s basketball games currently are the only events that routinely draw crowds over 5,000.
Rock Chalk Park’s capacity is between 7,500 and 10,000 but only a few track and field events each year could potentially draw more than 5,000 people, Marchiony said.
Requests to implement security measures and prohibit guns from certain facilities or events must be approved in open session by the Regents governance committee and may also be taken up by the full Board of Regents. No state universities have brought such proposals to the board yet, Richardson said.
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