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Amyx suggests jail time to curb violence

Several incidents involving guns at bars, triggers mayor to make changes

By Matt Erickson

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Bring a gun near a Lawrence bar, and you’ll go to jail. That’s the message Mayor Mike Amyx wants to send.

Amyx proposed mandatory jail sentences for anyone who brought firearms in or near a bar at last week’s city commission meeting. A city ordinance enacted last year prohibits firearms within 200 feet of the premises of drinking establishments but does not require jail time.

The city law only applies to people who don’t have a concealed carry license from the state.

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It puts more burden on the entertainment owner or operator than on public resources.

-David Schauner

“We created the ordinance, and we still have been able to see that the problem hasn’t gone away,” Amyx said.

He said the city law had failed to eliminate problems with weapons around bars, and jail sentences would send a more powerful message discouraging people from breaking the ordinance.

Amyx suggested a 30-day jail sentence for first-time offenders, with the sentences increasing to 90 days for a second offense and 180 or more for a third.

City Commissioner David Schauner said he would prefer an entertainment licensing system as an immediate step to curtail bar violence. He said such a system would require entertainment venues that attracted a certain number of patrons to obtain a license, and businesses would lose their licenses if they had problems with weapons or violence.

“It puts more burden on the entertainment owner or operator than on public resources,” Schauner said.

He said he wasn’t opposed to mandatory jail sentences for bringing weapons near bars, but he said an entertainment licensing system would be a better first step.

“I’d rather take progressive steps on this issue,” Schauner said.

Amyx said he and the rest of the commission would be open to any step to decrease violence around bars, and he said they would probably discuss a number of solutions this year.

“I think everything’s on the table,” he said.

Steve Gaudreau, owner of Quinton’s Bar and Deli at 615 Massachusetts St., and The Bar at 623 Vermont St., said that a few downtown businesses were mostly responsible for the bar-related violence that has occurred in Lawrence.

Someone fired shots inside Last Call, 729 New Hampshire St., in May 2006, causing the patrons inside to flee. One man died outside the Granada, 1020 Massachusetts St., after a shooting in February 2006.

However, bars outside downtown have also had problems with weapons.

Employees at Cross Town Tavern, 1910 Haskell Ave., called the police early on the morning of Feb. 17 when they saw someone holding a handgun outside the building. Employees had broken up a fight inside the bar earlier that night and had thrown out one patron.

Gaudreau said he was glad the city was attempting to stop downtown violence, but he said a better and quicker solution would be to increase police presence at bars and clubs that have had violence problems in the past.

“I think Mike’s got a good idea, but I think that it’s too far down the road,” he said. “I think something catastrophic could happen sooner than implementing a new law.”

Kansan staff writer Matt Erickson can be contacted at merickson@kansan.com.

— Edited by Sharla Shivers

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