Kansas Attorney General Opinion 2013-014

October 23, 2013
ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION NO. 2013- 14
Michael A. Montoya
Saline County Counselor
256 S. Santa Fe Ave.
Salina, KS 67402-1220
Re: 	State Departments; Public Officers and Employees‒Firearms‒Personal
and Family Protection Act
Synopsis: 	For the purposes of the Personal and Family Protection Act (PFPA), a
“state or municipal building” does not include a single floor within a county
courthouse. A county may restrict the carrying of firearms into a county
courthouse only by providing adequate security measures at the public
entrances to the courthouse and by posting the courthouse as prohibiting
the concealed carry of handguns in accordance with the PFPA and
regulations promulgated by the Attorney General. The chief judge of a
judicial district may prohibit the carrying of concealed handguns into
courtrooms or ancillary courtrooms within the district provided that other
means of security are employed.
“Adequate 	security 	measures” 	and 	“adequate 	security” 	are 	not
synonymous for the purposes of K.S.A. 2013 Supp. 75-7c20. Cited herein:
K.S.A. 2013 Supp. 75-7c01; 75-7c10; 75-7c20; K.A.R. 16-11-7.
* 	* 	*
Dear Mr. Montoya:
As Saline County Counselor, you request our opinion whether Saline County may
restrict the concealed carry of handguns into part, but not all, of the Saline County
courthouse. You also ask whether the terms “adequate security” and “adequate security

Michael A. Montoya
Page 2
measures” are synonymous for the purposes of the Personal and Family Protection Act
(PFPA). 1
Prohibiting Weapons on One Floor of a Municipal Building
Your first question involves several provisions of the PFPA. First, K.S.A. 2013 Supp. 75-
7c20(a) states:
The carrying of a concealed handgun as authorized by the personal and
family protection act shall not be prohibited in any state or municipal
building unless such building has adequate security measures to ensure
that no weapons are permitted to be carried into such building and the
building is conspicuously posted in accordance with K.S.A. 75–7c10, and
amendments thereto.
“State or municipal building” is defined as:
[A] building owned or leased by such public entity. It does not include a
building owned by the state or a municipality which is leased by a private
entity whether for profit or not-for-profit or a building held in title by the
state or a municipality solely for reasons of revenue bond financing. 2
In your letter, you state that the Saline County courthouse currently is posted as
prohibiting concealed carry. You further state that only the third floor of the courthouse
has electronic equipment and security personnel to detect and restrict the entry of all
weapons on that floor. Public visitors may only access the third floor through elevators,
and must pass through security upon exiting the elevator.
You ask whether the courthouse may allow concealed carry on the other floors but
continue to restrict all weapons on the third floor. In other words, you ask whether the
third floor of the Saline County courthouse may be considered a separate “building” for
the purposes of the PFPA.
We note that the term “building” itself is not defined in the PFPA, so we ascertain its
meaning from its ordinary definition. 3 One ordinary definition of a building is “a structure
with a roof and walls, such as a house or factory.” 4 Another ordinary definition is “a
relatively permanent enclosed construction over a plot of land, having a roof and usually
windows and often more than one level, used for any of a wide variety of activities, as
living, entertaining, or manufacturing.” 5 Based upon these definitions, it is our opinion
1 K.S.A. 2013 Supp. 75-7c01 et seq.
2 K.S.A. 2013 Supp. 75-7c20(l)(5)(A).
3 “In the absence of a statutory or common-law definition of [a phrase], this court will employ the ordinary
meaning of the words used by the legislature.” State v. Taylor, 27 Kan. App. 2d 539, 541 (2000).
4 “Building.” Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press.
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/building (accessed on August 21, 2013).
5 “Building.” Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/building (accessed on August 21, 2013).

Michael A. Montoya
Page 3
that the Saline County courthouse as a whole is a building for the purposes of K.S.A.
2013 Supp. 75-7c20. However, a single floor within a courthouse cannot be reasonably
defined as a “building” because the ordinary definition of “building” includes all floors
within the building.
Because the Saline County courthouse is a municipal building as defined in the PFPA,
the county may restrict the concealed carry of handguns into the courthouse only by
providing adequate security measures at public entrances to the courthouse and
posting signs in accordance with the PFPA and regulations promulgated by the Attorney
General. 6 However, the chief judge of each judicial district may prohibit the carrying of a
concealed handgun by any person into courtrooms or ancillary courtrooms within the
district “provided that other means of security are employed such as armed law
enforcement or armed security officers.”7
Adequate Security vs. Adequate Security Measures
We now turn to your second question. K.S.A. 2013 Supp. 75-7c20(i) states that the
governing body or chief administrative officer of a municipal building may exempt such
building from the provisions of K.S.A. 2013 Supp. 75-7c20 for a period of four years
beginning January 1, 2014, by adopting a resolution or drafting a letter with the following
statement: “A security plan has been developed for the building being exempted which
supplies adequate security to the occupants of the building and merits the prohibition of
the 	carrying 	of 	a 	concealed 	handgun 	as 	authorized 	by 	the 	personal 	and 	family
protection act.”
Although “adequate security” is not defined by statute, K.S.A. 2013 Supp. 75-7c20(l)(1)
defines “adequate security measures” as follows:
“Adequate security measures” means the use of electronic equipment and
personnel at public entrances to detect and restrict the carrying of any
weapons into the state or municipal building, including, but not limited to,
metal detectors, metal detector wands or any other equipment used for
similar purposes to ensure that weapons are not permitted to be carried
into such building by members of the public. Adequate security measures
for storing and securing lawfully carried weapons, including, but not limited
to, the use of gun lockers or other similar storage options may be provided
at public entrances.
You ask whether the phrase “adequate security” referred to in K.S.A. 2013 Supp. 75-
7c20(i) has the same meaning as “adequate security measures.”
It is presumed the legislature understood the meaning of the words it used
and intended to use them; that the legislature used the words in their
ordinary 	and 	common 	meaning; 	and 	that 	the 	legislature 	intended 	a
6 See K.S.A. 75-7c10(i) and K.A.R. 16-11-7.
7 K.S.A. 2013 Supp. 75-7c20(h).

Michael A. Montoya
Page 4
different meaning when it used different language in the same connection
in different parts of a statute.8
Following this rule of statutory construction, we note that the legislature chose not to
use the defined term “adequate security measures” as part of the statement that must
be included in a resolution or letter claiming the four-year exemption from the provisions
of K.S.A. 2013 Supp. 75-7c20. In addition, we note that the statement about “adequate
security” is required to obtain a four-year exemption, but no exemption is necessary if
the building provides “adequate security measures.” Therefore, the terms “adequate
security” and “adequate security measures” cannot be synonymous.
Instead, “adequate security” must be construed according to its ordinary meaning. The
ordinary meaning of “adequate” is “satisfactory or acceptable in quality or quantity.”9
Thus, whether security is “adequate” must be determined on a case-by-case basis for
each building.
Sincerely,
Derek Schmidt
Attorney General
Sarah Fertig
Assistant Attorney General
DS:AA:SF:sb
8 Rogers v. Shanahan, 221 Kan. 223-24 (1976).
9 “Adequate.” Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press.
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/adequate (accessed on October 1, 2013).