Legislation allowing counties' elected officials and employees who have concealed-weapon permits to carry concealed handguns in county buildings, with the approval of their quorum courts, sped through the Arkansas Senate on Tuesday afternoon.
With only Sen. Stephanie Flowers, D-Pine Bluff, dissenting, the Senate voted 33-1 to approve Senate Bill 159 by Sen. Linda Collins-Smith, R-Pocahontas.
The bill would bar concealed weapons from any courthouse, courthouse annex or other building owned, leased or regularly used by a county for conducting court proceedings or housing a county office, unless a county's quorum court approves an ordinance allowing concealed-weapons permit-holders who are county elected officials and employees, "to carry a concealed handgun into the courthouse as set out by the local security and emergency preparedness plan."
The bill requires that the county elected officials' and employees' principal places of employment be county-run facilities.
"I think it is the right thing to do this because ... most courthouses do not have security on staff," Collins-Smith said.
In a county courthouse, there are many agitated people, who are angry with county elected officials or employees for various reasons, including beliefs that their taxes are too high, she said.
But Flowers said she's heard that "quite a few" county sheriffs oppose the bill.
Collins-Smith replied that "we did not hear from them at all," and the Arkansas Sheriffs Association didn't testify against the bill in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"This is a good bill," she said.
Afterward, Chris Villines, executive director of the Arkansas Association of Counties, said the association is "neutral" on the legislation now that it's been amended.
Ronnie Baldwin, director of the Arkansas Sheriffs Association, could not be reached for comment by telephone Tuesday evening.
Metro on 03/25/2015