A gun-rights group and two Republican candidates for attorney general Tuesday took aim at Attorney General Dustin McDaniel’s opinion that a new state law doesn’t permit the open carrying of handguns.
Two top Republican legislative leaders, meanwhile, said they oppose allowing handguns to be carried openly.
In an advisory opinion released Monday, McDaniel, a Democrat, said Act 746 of 2013 doesn’t permit open carry of handguns.
Senate Republican leader Eddie Joe Williams of Cabot sought McDaniel’s opinion, noting state law allows Arkansas residents to carry a handgun if a person is on a journey, which will mean “beyond the county in which the person lives” under Act 746.
Steve Jones of Fort Smith, chairman of a group called Arkansas Carry, contended that McDaniel used the wrong definition of the offense of carrying a handgun in the opinion. Arkansas Carry formed in 2008 to legalize the open carrying of handguns in Arkansas.
Under Act 746, state law will change Aug. 16 so that a person can’t be prosecuted for carrying a firearm without a license unless the person commits a crime, Jones said. He said he works at a factory, whose name he declined to reveal, and had consulted attorneys about Act 746.
McDaniel spokesman Aaron Sadler on Tuesday declined to comment on Jones’ remarks, saying McDaniel’s opinion speaks for itself.
Republican attorney general candidate David Sterling of Little Rock, who is an attorney, also said he disagrees with McDaniel’s opinion.
“My interpretation of this statute is that law-abiding Arkansans may legally carry handguns either openly or concealed on their person or in their automobile,” Sterling said in a news release. “An exception is, of course, made for certain sterile environments such as courthouses, schools, and airports. Also, convicted felons and those intent on committing a crime are prohibited from possessing any firearm.”
Leslie Rutledge of Little Rock, an attorney and also a candidate for attorney general, said McDaniel’s answer to Williams’ question is confusing, and she believes the Legislature’s intent is clear under Act 746.
“If a person is legally authorized to possess a handgun, and he/she is on a journey outside of the county where he/she lives, he/she may carry a handgun so long as he/she does not attempt to unlawfully use it as a weapon against another person,” she said.
Act 746’s sponsor - Rep. Denny Altes, R-Fort Smith - could not be reached by telephone for comment Monday or Tuesday.
McDaniel said in his advisory opinion that legislative and judicial history wouldn’t support reading the term “travel” broadly so as to interpret the phrase “travel beyond the county” as permitting “open carry” under Act 746.
Given the law’s history, “the term travel is properly viewed as reflecting the Legislature’s recognition of the ‘journey’ exception’s historical purpose to allow people to protect themselves from the dangers of the open road,” he said.
Thus, he said, he doesn’t interpret Act 746’s definition of “journey” as authorizing open carry of handguns.
Senate President Pro Tempore Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, and House Speaker Davy Carter, R-Cabot, are both attorneys, but they said they haven’t yet read McDaniel’s opinion about Act 746. Neither voted on the measure, according to the General Assembly’s website.
But Lamoureux said he opposes open carry of handguns because he doesn’t “know why that extra step needs to be taken” beyond carrying a concealed weapon.
“Nobody has persuaded me that we need to do that,” he said. “I don’t want to have a gun policy by accident.”
Carter said he’s glad that McDaniel’s opinion gives some guidance regarding Act 746, because there is some uncertainty about the law.
“I am not in favor of open carry,” he said.
Legislation to explicitly allow for the open carrying of firearms in rural areas failed to clear the House Judiciary Committee earlier this year. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Sue Scott, R-Rogers.
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 07/10/2013