LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Concealed handguns would be allowed at Arkansas colleges, some bars, and even the state Capitol under a measure approved without a vote to spare by the Senate Thursday, breaking a deadlock among guns rights supporters over a bill that originally focused solely on campus firearms.
The Senate voted 18-9 in favor of the bill, which would expand the number of places where someone with a concealed handgun license could carry if they undergo up to eight hours of active shooter training. The measure goes back to the House, which had approved the original bill that had allowed concealed handguns by employees at colleges and universities.
The proposal advanced after stalling over objections from gun rights supporters about age and training restrictions that had been placed on the measure. The current bill has the backing of the National Rifle Association and Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who split over earlier versions of the bill.
“I think it’s an excellent, excellent way to make sure we get good training and also expand where (Arkansans) can carry,” Republican Sen. Trent Garner, who sponsored the legislation, told reporters after the vote.
Hutchinson, who chaired an NRA task force that called for trained, armed staff at schools after the 2012 Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting, also praised the measure.
“I’ve consistently supported increased training for carrying firearms in sensitive areas, and this bill is consistent with that principle,” he said in a statement.
The expanded legislation drew the ire of opponents concerned about the impact of allowing concealed handguns in more locations, as well as from some gun rights supporters who bristled at the training requirements. Democratic Sen. Will Bond noted the latest version of the bill would even allow concealed handguns at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. The measure would allow concealed handguns at bars if not prohibited by the owners as well as many government buildings, including the state Capitol. Concealed handguns would still be banned at K-12 schools, courtrooms or prisons.
“I think we’ve lost all our common sense on gun issues and now is the time to say this is a step too far,” Bond said.
Opponents also noted that the bill would allow some college students to carry concealed handguns into classrooms or dorms, though they wouldn’t be able to store them there.
“Once again, Arkansas legislators have sent a clear message to their constituents that their safety comes second to the gun lobby’s agenda,” Austin Bailey with the Arkansas chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a gun control advocacy group, said in a statement.
A previous version of the measure would have allowed anyone 25 and older with a concealed handgun license to carry on a college campus if they underwent up to 16 hours of active shooter training. The NRA had objected to the training and age restrictions, and the bill had stalled before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Republican Sen. Linda Collins-Smith, who had backed a competing plan to allow campus carry without the age or training restrictions, criticized Senate leaders for pulling the measure out of committee and said the bill had been “prostituted.”
“Whether you want campus carry or not, make sure you know what you’re voting for and that’s more mandates and more restrictions for those law-abiding citizens,” she said.
Arkansas law currently leaves the decision on whether to allow faculty and staff to carry concealed guns up to colleges and universities, but none have opted to do so since it was enacted in 2013.
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