ROGERS — ROGERS - A candidate for Arkansas governor said some gun regulations make sense, but President Barack Obama wants to take them too far.

“I don’t believe people should have machine guns,” said Asa Hutchinson of Rogers. “I support that reasonable restriction. I don’t believe people should have a surface-to-air missile.”

Hutchinson said he bought a .45-caliber gun with a magazine that could hold 13 bullets to go hiking in Alaska, where grizzly bears can bea problem.

“Under the New York proposal and President Obama’s proposal, that weapon would be illegal,” he said. “And this was for protection from bears.”

A law enacted last month in New York bans magazines that contain more than seven bullets. Obama wants a national ban on magazines containing more than 10 rounds.

Hutchinson, a former congressman and undersecretary of Homeland Security, said he had no problem with bears during the hike.

He made his remarks Saturday to about 100 people ata meeting of Conservative Arkansas, a political action group that supports conservative initiatives. The meeting was held at the Center for Nonprofits at St. Mary’s in Rogers.

In December, Hutchinson was appointed to lead the National Rifle Association’s study on school safety after a mass shooting in Newtown, Conn.

After the Dec. 14 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Obama began pressing Congress to ban military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines,expand background checks and toughen gun-trafficking laws. The gunman killed 28 people that day, himself included.

“It’s been two decades since we’ve seen such a sustained attack on our Second Amendment rights,” Hutchinson said.

Ratified in 1791, the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states: “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

Hutchinson said he believes the presence of armed guards at schools provides a level of protection, but he also believes in local control of schools.

Hutchinson said he met a school superintendent from south Arkansas who has been carrying a weapon to work for 10 years. The superintendent told Hutchinson that it would take police 20 minutes to get to the school, and that could be too long in some cases. The sheriff’s office gave the superintendent a private security license after he had one day of gun training.

Hutchinson said he supported the superintendent’s effort to provide safety at his school, but “I actually believe that’s not enough training.”

Off icers stationed at schools don’t need as much weapons training as regular police officers, Hutchinson said.

“We need something tailor-made for school officers,” he said. “But guess what, you need a change in Arkansas law, so I hope thatcan be accomplished in our Legislature.”

Mexico has “the strictest gun control that I know anywhere on Earth,” Hutchinson said, but gun violence is a serious problem in that country.

After Hutchinson’s address, nine Republican state legislators each spoke briefly and took a few questions.

Sen. Jim Hendren, RGravette, said things have changed considerably since he served in the Arkansas House of Representatives in the 1990s. Republicans have taken control of both chambers of the Arkansas Legislature since then.

“We see gun legislation go out of the Senate that people would have laughed at if you’d filed it 12 years ago,” Hendren said.

State Rep. Bob Ballinger, R-Hindsville, said he will file a bill in a week or so to prevent any “further infringements” on Second Amendment rights by the federal government.

He said similar bills have been passed in Wyoming, Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alabama and about 15 other states.

“What the law says is if there is any new executive order ... or any new regulations or laws from Washington, basically they are unenforceable in the state of Arkansas,” Ballinger said.

Arkansas will be “linking arms” with the other states that have passed similar bills, he said. He described it as “a pre-emptive step.”

“I don’t think the folks in New York and California understand that we are not giving up our firearms,” Ballinger said. “So I think partly for their own safety, they need to understand our bill.”

Sen. Jon Woods, R-Springdale, joked about a reference made earlier to “conservative Democrats.”

“It’s kind of like Bigfoot,” he said. “You always hear about it. You have moderate Democrats, but a conservative can barely be achieved in the Republican ranks.”

Hutchinson said last month that he plans to run for governor in 2014, and he reiterated that Saturday.

The race will be Hutchinson’s fourth attempt at statewide office. In 1986, he unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Sen. Dale Bumpers for his seat, and in 1990 Hutchinson lost to Winston Bryant in a race for attorney general.

In 2006, Hutchinson ran unsuccessfully for governor against then-Attorney General Mike Beebe, a Democrat.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 15 on 02/17/2013