The question at week's end was whether Arkansas lawmakers had taken total leave of their senses.
They had just passed a law that would allow concealed carry of firearms not just on college campuses but also in government buildings, the state Capitol among them, and in some bars and other public places, including stadiums and arenas.
Then, Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed the bill and effectively took ownership of it, even though what began as a years-long effort by Rep. Charlie Collins, R-Fayetteville, to get concealed carry authorized for faculty and staff on Arkansas college campuses had been hugely broadened in legislative maneuvering.
To the governor's credit, he has also endorsed an 11th-hour effort to amend the brand new law to disallow concealed carry in college stadiums, the University of Arkansas campus for Medical Sciences and at the state hospital.
That amendment (Senate Bill 724, sponsored by Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Beebe) made it out of the state Senate quickly and was on the agenda for the House Judiciary Committee late Tuesday.
Arkansas may yet get out of this session with a less-bad law than the Legislature originally passed.
The law still leaves too many handguns in too many settings in this state where they might be misused by accident or on purpose.
At least the amendment would leave guns (other than those carried by law enforcement) outside of places hosting or being used for collegiate athletic events. At some of those, passions, often influenced by alcohol, routinely flare.
Arkansas has already taken a hit because of the passage of the law, much of it coming from sports enthusiasts suggesting the NCAA not allow its athletes to compete in this state.
Apparently, that was part of the wake-up call to the Legislature and this attempt to make the law better, or at least less awful than as originally passed.
Quite literally, common sense had given way to Second Amendment swagger.
Saner souls had tried to make the law that Collins first proposed more palatable by requiring specific training for active shooters, the reason Collins championed for his original legislation. He believed more guns, or the threat of their presence, on college campuses would deter an active shooter. So he agreed to have faculty and staff who wanted to carry on the job get training for those situations.
He must also have supported what happened to his bill as it moved to passage.
The bill got worse, instead of better, as opposition flared to any restrictions and the National Rifle Association brought its pressure to bear on the Legislature.
A 16-hour training requirement got cut to eight hours. The age for on-campus carry was proposed to be 25 or older, but that was dropped to the existing 21 years old. And the universe in which these qualified permit-holders can carry widened dramatically.
Now, not just faculty and staff but also students and non-students who take the training are allowed to carry guns on campus, but hardly just on campus.
You may remember that a past Legislature passed Collins' campus-carry bill but also allowed individual campuses to opt out. Every last one of the eligible Arkansas campuses opted out.
This year, Collins found an ally at Springdale's Northwest Technical Institute and altered his legislation to allow campus carry at vocational/technical schools. But the rest of the institutions of higher learning still wanted to be able to ban guns on their respective campuses.
Unfortunately, their voices didn't matter when the NRA asserted its influence on lawmakers.
Now we'll see whether the threat of NCAA involvement might have helped restore at least a little common sense about where and when guns should be allowed.
Commentary on 03/29/2017