OPINION

Brenda Blagg: Concealed carry gets hairy

Campus gun bill is amended, sparking political maneuvers

State Rep. Charlie Collins' campus-carry bill picked up a notable amendment last week.

Collins, R-Fayetteville, had little trouble getting approval of House Bill 1249 on his side of the Capitol, but he saw the state Senate tack on a requirement last week that will at least delay passage of the controversial measure.

Collins introduced the bill to force college campuses in the state to allow faculty and staff with concealed-carry permits to bring their guns to school.

A bill he got passed in 2013 was amended that year to allow the institutions to decide whether to opt in or out. All of them opted out.

He's back this year with a bill to eliminate the option.

And, once again, he has found his bill being amended, this time to require the people who are allowed to carry weapons on campus to get additional training.

The amendment, suggested by Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Little Rock, passed the full Senate on Thursday, just a day after a similar effort failed in committee.

Hutchinson chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, where the bill was assigned. He wants to require permit holders who are allowed to carry guns on campus to get 16 hours of training to prepare them for active shooter situations. (Concealed carry holders now must have four hours of general training, primarily to familiarize them with limits on where they can and cannot carry.)

It is the potential for active shooter situations that Collins and the bill's Senate co-sponsor, Sen. Trent Garner, R-El Dorado, have argued necessitate allowing armed civilians to carry guns on the state's campuses.

They contend that having any armed faculty and staff would enhance security on campus, although there is strong opposition from college administrators and law enforcement all around the state to the proposal.

Particularly notable is opposition in Fayetteville where at least 140 people reportedly jammed a local legislative forum earlier this month. Almost everyone there opposed the bill, including state Rep. Greg Leding and state Sen. Uvalde Lindsey, both D-Fayetteville.

Leding said last week that he was grateful for Sen. Hutchinson's amendment requiring added training.

"I think it makes an awful bill a little less awful," Leding said.

Collins and Garner had vociferously objected to the Senate amendment, arguing the requirement for additional security training would reduce the pool of people with weapons on campus.

Consequently, they have said they'll further amend the bill to extend the opportunity to carry guns on campus to all concealed-carry permit holders, including students, not just faculty and staff, if the extra training is required. Students cannot carry weapons on campus under the current bill.

They're claiming anyone willing to go through the additional training should be able to carry their concealed weapons on campus.

Clearly, the arguments continue. As long as there are differences in the bills passed by the two chambers, or more changes made in the language, Collins can't claim victory.

Both chambers of the Legislature, must agree.

If the sponsors add the other amendment to allow more people to carry on campus, that amendment, too, would eventually require approval in both houses before the bill would move on to Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

He has not said what he would do if it does reach his desk. But he won't have to decide just yet.

The way things ended last week, the Senate re-referred the bill to the Senate Judiciary Committee, after voting 21-10 for the version that carried the extra training requirement.

Amendment of the bill slowed the process, although people close to the action aren't sure Collins won't still prevail.

There's a lot of session left and Collins is certainly determined to do whatever he must to get this bill the campuses do not want passed.

He went so far last week as to ask House members to hold up an appropriation measure for four-year universities in the state. Collins suggested the need to resolve how the cost of active-shooter training might impact budget needs. The appropriation bill fell 20 votes short of the 75 votes needed in the House.

The appropriation will, of course, be revisited later, but that delay is definitely related to what happened last week with HB 1249.

Commentary on 02/19/2017

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