Beginning July 1, 2017, faculty, staff, students and visitors to Wichita State be allowed to conceal and carry handguns.

The new law affects all public universities in the state of Kansas, so three of Kansas’ major universities have teamed up to make a plan for athletic events.

Brad Pittman, associate athletic director, said if individuals plan to conceal and carry at athletic events they must follow laws set in the state of Kansas along with the university policy.

The new policy, effective July 1, says, “Each individual who lawfully possesses a handgun on campus shall be wholly and solely responsible for carrying, storing and using that handgun in a safe manner and in accordance with the law, Board policy and University policy.”

After conversations with the University of Kansas and Kansas State University, WSU has agreed to a similar plan so all three Division I colleges are on the same page: events with 5,000 people or more in attendance will prohibit guns with adequate security measures.

David Moses, general counsel for the university, said recently that WSU will purchase about 20 metal detectors to use at athletic events for $72,000.

Pittman said the $72,000 will come from the athletic budget.

While the 20 metal detectors are set to be purchased, they will be used at select events, which need to estimate an attendance of 5,000 or more.

“We will be going off of estimated attendance,” Pittman said. “Previous attendance will be one tool that we use to determine that.”

Along with adequate security measures, KU has proposed having athletic attendees carry clear bags to help speed up the bag checking process.

“We are not going to clear bags,” Pittman said. “Clear bags still have challenges especially if people stuff a lot of things in them, it will still require searching.

“We haven’t finalized our plan yet, but are looking at identifying a bag size similar to what INTRUST Bank Arena does.”