State Gun Laws

Kansas state law says that it is illegal for the following people to own or possess a firearm:

• a person who is addicted to, and illegally using, drugs;
• a person who is/was mentally ill or an alcohol or drug abuser and subject to involuntary commitment for care and treatment;
• someone under age 18, unless the barrel of the gun is at least 12 inches long;
• someone who is a fugitive from justice, which means that the person knows that there is a warrant issued for him/her for committing a felony;
• an immigrant who is not authorized to be in the United States;
• someone who, within the past five years, has been convicted of a misdemeanor for a domestic violence offense in Kansas or a similar misdemeanor crime in another state;
• someone who has a current protection order against him/her (a “respondent”) that meets the following three conditions:
  1. It was issued after a hearing and the respondent received notice of the hearing beforehand and had the opportunity to participate in the hearing;
  2. It restrains the respondent from doing any of the following:
     • harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner, the intimate partner’s child, or the respondent’s child; or
     • engaging in other conduct that would place an intimate partner in reasonable fear of bodily injury to himself/herself or his/her child; and
  3. The protection order:
     • includes a finding by the judge that the respondent represents a “credible threat” to the physical safety of the intimate partner or his/her child; or
     • has terms in it that clearly prohibit the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the intimate partner or his/her child that would reasonably be expected to cause bodily injury;¹
• a person who has been convicted of a “person felony,” which are various drug crimes listed in sections K.S.A. § 21-36a01 through 21-36a17 of the law, or convicted of any violation of the Uniform Controlled Substances Act prior to July 1, 2009;
• someone who was a “juvenile offender” of:
  1. an act which comes under:
     • the “person felony” crimes;
     • Uniform Controlled Substances Act prior to July 1, 2009; or
     • certain other felonies listed in K.S.A § 21-6304; and
  2. was in possession of a firearm when s/he committed the crime; or
• someone who was convicted of certain felonies within the past five or ten years; or
• has been released from imprisonment for a felony.²

If any of these situations apply to the abuser, it may be illegal for him/her to have a gun. Also, federal laws, which apply to all states, restrict an abuser’s right to have a gun if you have a restraining order against him/her that meets certain requirements. Go to Federal Gun Laws to get more information.

¹ Kan. Stat. § 21-6301(a)(10), (a)(13), (a)(14)-(18), (m)(2)
² Kan. Stat. § 21-6304(a)