Continuing efforts to liberalize guns laws clearly have gone too far, which is why Prairie Village is right to face a court challenge against allowing people to openly carry firearms.

The Libertarian Party of Kansas kept its promise to file a lawsuit against Prairie Village, Leawood and the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan., seeking injunctions in district court to prevent those cities from enforcing gun bans. Overland Park made headlines last year by allowing people to carry firearms in the open.

Open carry has been legal in Kansas since statehood. But that was during the Wild West.

Several cities in these more modern, civilized times passed ordinances preventing people from openly carrying weapons. Overland Park did it in 2007.

But a 2011 legal opinion from the attorney general said cities can’t ban the open carry of weapons. The Libertarian Party of Kansas threatened legal action, causing some cities to let people in the Sunflower State carry their guns in the open.

But the courts really should decide this issue, which is about public safety. The country in the last year has experienced enough trauma caused by guns.

People can point to the so-called “stand your ground” laws, which resulted in the February shooting death of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman in Florida. In July in Colorado a dozen people died, and many others were wounded when a gunman opened fire in a theater at the premiere of a Batman movie.

There was the Christmas shopping shooting rampage in a mall near Portland, Ore. More recently the country was shaken — again close to Christmas — when a gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut and killed 26 people, including 20 schoolchildren.

Prairie Village, Leawood and the United Government must make a stand for the safety of all children and adults. Gun advocates insist that firearms make for a more polite society, ensuring greater safety.

History proves them wrong.