Kansas to consider bill that would make "gun discrimination" illegal

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The Kansas statehouse is a very Second Amendment kind of place, and one provocative bill under consideration this session proposes the unusual step of protecting the firearms industry from discrimination.

In short, it would be illegal to refuse to do business with someone just because that person deals in guns or ammunition.

The proposal is titled the Firearms Industry Nondiscrimination Act, a trade association initiative by the National Shooting Sports Foundation. It’s one of several bills with gun-rights themes that lawmakers are considering in the 2016 session, including measures concerning air guns at schools and a proposed constitutional right to hunt, plus a bill up for a hearing this week to reduce the minimum age for concealed-carry gun licenses from 21 to 18.

In legislative terms, the FIND Act would define as “an unlawful discriminatory practice” any refusal to do business with a person or trade association “solely because a person is engaged in the lawful commerce of firearms or ammunition products.”

The association’s Trevor Santos told a Kansas Senate committee that members have faced discrimination from Internet search engines, credit card payment processors and insurance companies.

The measure was a response to Operation Choke Point, Santos said, a federal government effort that aimed to restrict access to banking services by possibly unscrupulous or fraudulent businesses, a list that had included firearms and ammunition dealers.

The bill drew support from the National Rifle Association, but it’s also attracting notice from others who want protection from discrimination.

Sen. Tom Holland, a Baldwin City Democrat, said he was an avid sports shooter but was skeptical of protecting a particular industry from discrimination.

Holland said he was in the IT industry and was starting a winery business. Maybe “some of my industries” should be in the bill, too, he said.

“We’re here to do the business of the people and not special interests,” Holland said.

Tom Witt, executive director of the LGBT rights group Equality Kansas, said the state’s anti-discrimination statute protects individuals on the basis of such things as race, religion, color, sex, disability and national origin.

Creating a protected class for those involved in the firearms industry would be unprecedented, said Witt, who noted he was a strong supporter of the Second Amendment.

Witt said he knew of another group of people who needed protection from discrimination - 150,000 LGBT Kansans. If lawmakers would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the bill, he said, “we would be happy to support it.”

Elise Higgins, a lobbyist for Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, told lawmakers the organization has been the target of discrimination and also deserved protection.

Just as the firearms industry shouldn’t face discrimination because of the nature of its business, neither should a provider of women’s health services and safe, legal abortions, she said.

But Sen. Ralph Ostmeyer, a Grinnell Republican who is chairman of the Federal and State Affairs Committee, made it clear he wasn’t interested in amendments. Neither was Sen. Jacob LaTurner, the Pittsburg Republican who introduced the bill.

“This is a pro-Second Amendment bill, and I think it should stay that way,” LaTurner said.

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