A bit of good news from Topeka

I gotta admit, I've been impressed with this legislature, first with concealed carry, and now this:

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - A bill allowing individuals to own machine guns, sawed-off shotguns and silencers has cleared the Legislature.

The Senate approved it Thursday on a 28-9 vote. The House passed it last week 105-18.

The margin of victory ought to tell even the most fanatical gun grabber that headlines like these are probably not telling the whole story:

House Clears Way For Kansans To Own Machine Guns

Machine guns on the fast track

House OKs bill allowing machine guns

Given the screams, you'd think bill provides that AK-47s must be handed out with school lunch tickets*, but they should rest assured that federal laws regarding the ownership of automatic weapons are still in place** like they have been since the 1930s; what this bill does is repeal most state requirements over what the Feds already do. Under previous Kansas law, even someone who could otherwise legally own such a gun could not buy it - Kansas gun dealers were not allowed to own them.

And there was one interesting fact buried*** in the Capital Journal's story that no other scare-mongering press outlet in the state seems to have noticed:

The House gave final approval to a bill allowing dealers, manufacturers and private citizens to own machine guns, which would bring Kansas in line with all but a handful of states.

In other words, as was the case with concealed carry, Kansas is hardly on the forefront of gun law liberalization; it is huffing and puffing to catch up with the rest of the country.

Of course, that doesn't stop the panickers, like Meliss, who lives in Colorado (first comment):

at first i was sad to move but after reading this i am ashamed that i am from kansas. I would never want to live in a state that aproves a bill like this one. I have a 2 year old and do not want him to grow up in fear that some one could have a machine gun. That is a war fare gun not a gun to just have.

I have bad news for Miliss: she already lives in such a state.

On the other hand, I'm not going to tell her. After all, I don't really think it's her 2-year-old who has the fear problem.

* In truth, it doesn't even provide ammunition. Cheapskates.

** and will likely remain so, given the Supremes' repeated failure to pass their ESL classes.

*** I have to give the CJ credit here, at least they had it in their story. Ever since I lived in Topeka, I have considered the CJ the finest paper in the state, for any number of reasons.