At least for now, state Rep. Charlie Collins' effort to get more guns on Arkansas' college campuses has been holstered.
A House committee defeated the measure, House Bill 1077, on Thursday.
That could be the end of the effort this session. Collins, R-Fayetteville, said after the committee defeat he wasn't sure he'd offer the bill again.
He certainly could make better use of his time than to pursue the legislation further.
Remember, Collins' 2013 legislation to allow some concealed carry on campuses is still on the books, although it allows campuses to opt out.
That little escape clause let Collins pass the original bill because the various campuses knew they didn't have to allow guns on campus. Nor have they. Not one of state's higher education institutions opted in. They preferred to leave weapons in the hands of trained law enforcement.
On-campus decision-makers, namely the governing boards of the different higher education institutions, simply didn't want to authorize academic and other staff members to carry their guns to school -- even if they hold permits for concealed-carry weapons.
That was true in Fayetteville at the University of Arkansas, in Bentonville at Northwest Arkansas Community College and on campus after campus.
But Collins tried again, thinking the more Republican Legislature elected for this term would back him up and take away the opt-out provision.
Sure enough, the House Education Committee last week decided the issue with a dead-even split, 10-10, with all Republicans voting for Collins' bill and all Democrats voting against it.
It wasn't enough. Eleven votes are needed to get a measure out of the committee. One more vote cast for this one and it would have been headed to the full House.
That's why the bill is only as dead as the sponsor thinks it is. There's also the question of whether he has more time to give this issue, while time is wasting on other legislative questions.
Then there is the fact that the committee certainly gave the bill a full hearing last week, about 2 ½ hours of it.
Much of the time was consumed by Collins himself as he argued again that faculty and staff members at public colleges (who have concealed carry permits) should be allowed to bring their guns to school.
He used the imagery of mass shootings from colleges and public schools around the country to suggest gun-carrying professors might prevent such tragedy in Arkansas.
He believes those who do mass shootings look for target-rich environments that are gun-free. A campus that bans guns, he suggests, is just such a target, regardless of the police protection in place.
Collins' prime argument is that, if those who plot such crimes know that college or university employees might be carrying weapons, they will be deterred from planning attacks on campuses.
"This is not about shooting people; this is about deterring people who want to kill our loved ones," Collins said.
But he also expressed confidence in those who qualify for concealed carry permits to use their weapons to intervene in an active shooter situation, should it arise.
Others aren't so sure about either argument. First, is someone who is most likely mentally disturbed going to abandon a plan because a professor might have a gun handy?
And, if a deadly situation develops, would the professor's required training for concealed carry be enough to equip him or her to respond appropriately?
There were also expressions of concern about accidental discharge of firearms that might be brought to campus and other reasons for opposition to a policy that permits them.
Collins made a couple of changes to the bill on Thursday, presumably trying to pick up votes from the committee. He might try more tweaks to advance the bill.
Most likely, the law won't be changed this year. The boards of trustees of the different institutions will continue to set the policy and most, probably all, of the institutions will continue to ban concealed-carry weapons.
Brenda Blagg is a freelance columnist and longtime journalist in Northwest Arkansas. Email her at [email protected].
Commentary on 02/08/2015