GUEST COLUMN, Travis Couture-Lovelady, President of Kansas State Rifle Association

In 2010, Kansans amended the state Bill of Rights to guarantee that every person has the right to keep and bear arms for the defense of self, family, home, and state. The measure passed with 89 percent of the vote, more than 710,000 Kansans, the largest margin any gun rights amendment has ever received in any state. The Kansas State Rifle Association helped push that amendment from the Legislature to the ballot, and Kansans made their position unmistakable with their vote.

Words in a constitution, however, mean only what the courts say they mean. In Kansas, the final word on Section 4 belongs to the seven justices of the Kansas Supreme Court. And under the current system, gun owners have no meaningful say in who those justices are.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR, Carolyn Huddleston, Seward County

At the beginning of the year Brock Theiner left his job as the Director of the Landfill and became the Assistant Administrator. The budget for Administration had been written to include him. Personnel costs were budgeted as $270,000. But when the Commission was making cuts in February, they removed funding for the Assistant Administrator position. The amount budgeted for personnel in Admin. dropped to $165,440, and it was my understanding that Theiner was going to return to work at the Landfill.

That didn’t happen.

L&T Publisher Earl Watt

With the Kansas primary less than four weeks away, the crowded field of candidates for governor have been criss-crossing the Sunflower State making their case for why voters should choose them.

We have seen several right here in Southwest Kansas and will no doubtedly see several more before Election Day.

But with advance voting starting, and with the field crowded, it’s time to weigh in on how Kansas can move forward.

There are several good choices in the Republican primary, but the candidate best positioned to guide Kansas forward is Sen. Ty Masterson.

MY PERSPECTIVE, Gary Damron

The road leading to 1776 began years earlier, with the British victory in the French and Indian War (1754-1763). Even before that, America had inherited from England key political ideas including the Magna Carta (1215) and English Bill of Rights (1689). Colonists celebrated the war triumph and anticipated vast western territories opening to settlement. However, Britain was left deeply in debt, and Parliament began tightening control over the colonies. New taxes (Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Townshend Acts), stricter trade enforcement, and restricted westward settlement angered colonies. The victory that first united them with Britain ultimately planted seeds of separation.

A new emphasis on reason, liberty, and natural rights, had begun to shape American identity. Leaders embraced thinkers like John Locke; Benjamin Franklin embodied Enlightenment thinking through practical inventions, civic improvements, and the use of reason for the public good. With Britain still clinging to tradition and hierarchy, those in the new land increasingly believed they could build a better society.