BY: RACHEL MIPRO Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — A Kansas House Republican will no longer hold a judiciary committee leadership position following his arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence with a gun.
Carl Maughan, R-Colwich, and state representative, was arrested early Monday. The 52-year-old was booked into Shawnee County Jail around 4 a.m. in connection to the crimes of possession of a firearm while under influence of drugs or alcohol, failure to signal while changing lanes or turning and for improper driving on a roadway with lanes, according to the booking report.
He was released after posting bail and has a court date set for Friday. Maughan did not immediately respond to a Reflector inquiry on the arrest.
Maughan holds the District 90 seat, which covers swathes of north-central Sedgwick County and parts of Wichita.
Maughan held a vice chair position on the House Judiciary Committee, but was replaced in this position Tuesday, hours after news of his arrest became widely publicized. He still holds a seat on the committee, as well as on the House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee and the House Financial Institutions and Pensions Committee, among others.
He is one of many Republicans who endorsed House Concurrent Resolution 5020, a proposed constitutional amendment that would loosen gun restrictions in the state by giving gun rights the same level of protection as the freedoms of speech and religion.
An attorney, he ran unopposed for former Rep. Steve Huebert’s seat in 2022, campaigning on a conservative platform. His term ends in 2025.
“I’d like to try to allow people to experience their version of the pursuit of happiness without necessarily having too much of a heavy hand from centralized entities,” Maughan said in a 2022 interview with Ark Valley News.