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Arkansas Expands Where Concealed Guns Are Allowed

Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Wednesday signed into law a bill that will allow Arkansans with concealed-carry permits to take firearms onto public college campuses and many other public places, including into the state Capitol, if they get up to eight hours of training.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Wednesday signed into law a bill that will allow Arkansans with concealed-carry permits to take firearms onto public college campuses and many other public places, including into the state Capitol, if they get up to eight hours of training.

 

"This bill in my view reflects the will of the General Assembly and is constitutional and will balance public safety and the Second Amendment," Hutchinson said.

 

The Republican governor said he signed House Bill 1249 by Rep. Charlie Collins, R-Fayetteville, into Act 562 before a news conference in the governor's conference room in the Capitol. At the news conference, the governor was flanked by a handful of state lawmakers, state police Director Bill Bryant and Chris Cox, executive director of the National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action.

 

Act 562 will become effective Sept. 1 and will require the Arkansas State Police to promulgate rules to design a firearm training program within 120 days of that effective date.

 

Hutchinson's signature on the bill ended a journey that started with the introduction of the bill on Jan. 23, the House's Feb. 2 approval of the bill allowing holders of concealed-weapon permits to carry guns on college campuses, the Senate's March 9 approval of the bill substantially expanding its scope, and the House's March 15 concurrence with the Senate's changes.

 

The governor said the bill "is a compromise piece of legislation that is consistent with my view of how firearms should be handled in sensitive areas."

 

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., Hutchinson said Congress passed a law that allowed flight-deck officers on airplanes to be armed. At the time, he was an undersecretary in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

 

"We had the training requirements in place, and it has enhanced security of airplanes," the governor said.

 

"After the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting [in Connecticut in 2012], I worked with the NRA [and] I worked with the Secret Service as to what we should do to further protect our schoolchildren, and so we did enhance training requirements for school staff and gave them the option [of carrying firearms]," he said.

Caroline Cournoyer is GOVERNING's senior web editor.
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