Committee rejects open-carry gun bill

— The House Judiciary Committee narrowly rejected legislation Tuesday that would have allowed the open carrying of handguns in rural areas.

Nine committee members voted for the bill, eight opposed it, and three did not vote. It needed 11 votes to pass.

The bill was opposed by the head of the Arkansas State Police.

House Bill 1408, sponsored by Rep. Sue Scott, R-Rogers, failed after it was amended to remove cities and towns from the places where a concealed-carry licensee could choose to carry a handgun concealed or openly.

The original bill would have allowed open carry in urban and rural areas.

Scott said after the meeting that she will ask the committee to reconsider her legislation, as early as Thursday.

“Oh, yes, definitely. That will be my plan,” Scott said.

Bills that have failed only once are eligible for a rehearing by the committee.

Rep. Jim Nickels, D-Sherwood, asked if Scott would delay the bill so that committee members could review it after the amendment had been added and vote on it at a later time. But the committee members continued discussing the measure until Rep. Bob Ballinger, R-Hindsville, motioned to pass the bill as amended.

Rep. Mark McElroy, D-Tillar, asked if concealed-handgun licensees are trained in “weapon retention,” or preventing another person from gaining control of the weapon.

Nicholas Stehle, a member of the advocacy group Arkansas Carry and a concealed handgun safety instructor, said he discusses the subject with his students and encourages them to wear holsters that guard against having theweapon removed by another person.

“Retention holsters are a good idea, I would certainly encourage people to do it. Frankly, especially with a bill that’s concerning rural areas, you’re not talking about a lot of high-volume, high-traffic areas, and I think that that becomes a whole lot less important in those situations,” Stehle said.

Col. Stan Witt, the director of the Arkansas State Police, said his agency opposed the bill “because of officer-safety reasons.”

Witt said law-enforcement officers have to make “split-second decisions” that can be complicated by someone who is openly carrying a handgun.

“Those critical seconds could cost an officer his life,” Witt said.

J.R. Hankins, the eastern region commander of the state police Highway Patrol Division, said that simply having a retention holster is not enough to keep someone from taking control of a weapon.

He said troopers sometimes encounter people who have mental and emotional problems.

“Displaying a gun makes you a target,” Hankins said.

Front Section, Pages 5 on 02/27/2013

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