Gun shops, churches ‘essential’ and exempt from Kansas stay-at-home order, state says

Kansas gun shops and churches are considered essential functions and are exempted from Gov. Laura Kelly’s statewide stay at home order, her top lawyer said Sunday.

Religious gatherings are also not required to abide by a ban on crowds of more than 10, but should practice social distancing to help slow the spread of the new coronavirus, said Clay Britton, the governor’s chief counsel.

In addition, sellers and makers of firearms and ammunition are excluded from the stay-at-home order, he said.

“The intent, certainly, was to broadly exempt all of them from any prohibitions on this order,” Britton said of the firearms industry.

Britton made the remarks while answering questions from top Kansas lawmakers Sunday. Kelly’s executive order is set to go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Monday.

Kelly issued the order Saturday as the coronavirus continued to spread through Kansas. The state has reported 319 cases, including seven deaths. At least 55 people have been hospitalized.

Kelly’s order replaces a patchwork of local directives across the state that had imposed varying degrees of restrictions. Under the new order, cities and counties are not allowed to impose more or less restrictive rules.

The sweeping exemptions for First and Second Amendment rights in the statewide order raises at least the possibility that gun stores and churches could have more flexibility under the statewide standard than under some local orders. The order Johnson County issued on March 22 doesn’t appear to exempt gun shops, for example. Sedgwick County’s order was also silent on the issue of firearms.

In allowing the firearms industry to continue to operate during the pandemic, the Democratic governor will sidestep a confrontation over gun rights that would have likely occurred if she had imposed restrictions. Before adjourning earlier this month, the Legislature voted to prohibit Kelly from seizing ammunition or limiting the sale of firearms.

The order is designed to keep people mostly in their homes, but provides latitude for individuals to get food, medicine or other household necessities; receive medical care; take care of other household members in another location; and to exercise.

Businesses performing essential functions, such as grocery stores and gas stations, can continue to operate.

“At this point, this is the best thing that we can do is to have people stay at home, maintain that social distancing,” Kansas Adjutant General Lee Tafanelli told lawmakers.

Tafanelli described modeling that predicts cases of the virus will peak in Kansas in the third or fourth week of April. The comments echo previous statements by Lee Norman, the secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, who said Friday that a peak was possible on April 24.

Forecasting models by researchers at the University of Washington also predict April 24 as the peak. According to the models, Kansas will be short by about 32 intensive care unit beds and overall will require 167 ventilators.

The models predict a peak of 21 deaths a day and a total of 669 deaths by August.

“We’re simply not ready for what we anticipate will be the peak of this pandemic,” Kelly said Saturday.

Kansas House and Senate leaders gathered Sunday to review Kelly’s stay-at-home order, but didn’t take any action to stop it. The Legislature had previously adopted a resolution that gives top legislators the power to revoke Kelly’s emergency actions in some cases.

But during the meeting at the Capitol, no one spoke up against Kelly’s order.

“I think what the governor’s doing here makes perfect sense,” said Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning, an Overland Park Republican. “We’re trying to slow the spread and we’re trying to keep the hospitals from being overwhelmed on their staffing levels and their (personal protective gear) levels.”

Senate President Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican, on Saturday had expressed concern about a “one size fits all” approach. She didn’t criticize the order on Sunday and said very little during the meeting.

The statewide stay-at-home order followed a whirlwind of action by Kelly responding to the crisis. She first banned gatherings larger than 50, then lowered the limit to 10. She also closed schools for the rest of the school year, becoming the first governor in the nation to do so.

The governor has also restricted foreclosures and evictions related to the pandemic and has prohibited utility shutoffs for now.

This story was originally published March 29, 2020 at 3:56 PM with the headline "Gun shops, churches ‘essential’ and exempt from Kansas stay-at-home order, state says."