Kansas police could sell, give away guns seized without criminal convictions under Senate bill
TOPEKA — The Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would expand Kansas law enforcement officers' options for confiscated firearms.
Under current law, agencies can sell or give away the guns they seize when someone is convicted of a crime, but under civil asset forfeiture, which doesn't require a conviction, selling firearms or giving them away are not available options.
When police seize a gun through civil forfeiture, agencies currently have four options: destroy it, use it, give it to another agency to use or send it to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation's forensic lab.
Senate Bill 137 would allow police to sell or give guns seized through civil forfeiture to any of the more than 1,200 licensed federal firearms dealers in the state.
Sen. Stephen Owens, a Hesston Republican and former owner of Patriot Pawn and Firearms in Newton, introduced the bill in January after he said he received a call from the Harvey County Sheriff, who told Owens that state law was inconsistent. Owens spoke in support of the bill at a Feb. 11 Senate hearing and again on Wednesday when the Senate debated the bill.
'All that this bill is doing is bringing the civil asset forfeiture code in compliance with law that already exists,' Owens said Wednesday.
Civil asset forfeiture has been criticized as a method for furthering 'profit-based policing,' a notion voiced by former Rep. Gail Finney, a Wichita Democrat who served in the Legislature for 13 years before her death in 2022. Finney pushed for comprehensive reform of Kansas' decades-old civil forfeiture laws, arguing they ran the risk of violating constitutional rights.
That reform finally came in 2024 with Senate Bill 458.
While civil forfeiture doesn't require a criminal conviction, it does require the government to show by a preponderance of evidence that the property in question was used in illegal activity. Vehicles and currency make up the bulk of seized assets in Kansas, according to data from the KBI.
Megan Hillbish, a lobbyist for the Kansas State Rifle Association, wrote in testimony that the process of properly and legally destroying firearms can be costly and time-consuming for law enforcement agencies.
'This bill would allow law enforcement agencies to instead have the opportunity to make money from transferring the firearms to properly licensed federal firearms dealers,' Hillbish wrote. 'This could help offset costs and incentivize firearms being used in responsible manners.'
The bill also drew support from the Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police, the Kansas Sheriffs Association and the Kansas Peace Officers Association.
'This consistency makes sense,' said Ed Klumpp, a lobbyist for the three law enforcement associations, in written testimony.
No opponents testified on the bill, but Sen. Patrick Schmidt, a Topeka Democrat, challenged the bill Wednesday on the Senate floor with an amendment that would only allow police to sell firearms at public auctions. He said the change would help alleviate his concerns about transparency in how police unload the firearms.
'I think that as 137 is written right now, it does create significant loopholes and perverse interests that we don't want happening surrounding the transfer or sale of weapons, especially those that have possibly been used in furtherance of a crime,' Schmidt said.
The amendment failed, and every Senator but Schmidt voted Thursday to advance the bill to the House.
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