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Committee advances bill allowing sale of forfeited firearms to licensed dealers
Summary
Senate Bill 137 would add an option for law enforcement agencies to sell or transfer forfeited firearms to federally licensed firearms dealers; committee closed the hearing, accepted proponents' testimony, and voted to place the bill on the consent calendar.
The Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee heard and advanced Senate Bill 137, which would add an option allowing law enforcement agencies to sell or transfer firearms forfeited under the Kansas civil asset forfeiture law to a federally licensed firearms dealer.
Committee staff said the bill amends the civil code provision (identified in the hearing as 60-41-17) that governs disposition of property forfeited under the Kansas asset seizure and forfeiture act. Under current civil-code language, firearms forfeited to a seizing agency must be destroyed, used by the agency for official purposes, traded to another law enforcement agency, or given to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation for testing or destruction. Senate Bill 137 would add a fifth option: sale or transfer to a properly licensed federal firearms dealer. Staff noted that a similar option already exists in the criminal-procedure code for firearms seized under search warrants and that the change would make the civil asset forfeiture statute consistent with that criminal-code language. The bill was described by staff as taking effect July 1 if enacted.
Senator Owens, an in-person proponent, told the committee the measure arose after a local sheriff brought an inconsistency to his attention: "This is just an attempt to make it consistent throughout the criminal and civil asset forfeiture code," he said. There was no opponent testimony on the record. The committee received written proponent testimony from Ed Klump, the Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police, and Megan Hilbish of the Kansas State Rifle Association.
Committee members asked how ammunition would be handled; staff and members said the bill’s amendment applies only to the firearms portion of the statute and that ammunition would be treated separately. Senators raised safety and valuation questions for ammunition and observed that other states have pursued ammunition regulation; committee discussion did not alter the bill’s firearms-only language.
After closing the hearing, the committee later took a motion to pass Senate Bill 137 favorably and to place it on the consent calendar. The motion carried on a voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript.
