A bill aimed at barring concealed-carry permit holders from Razorback Stadium and other locations hosting collegiate sporting events cleared its final legislative hurdle Friday.
The legislation also is designed to prohibit these permit holders, who take up to eight hours of extra training, from carrying weapons into the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the State Hospital.
The vote Friday morning was 23-7 to send Senate Bill 724 by Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, to Gov. Asa Hutchinson. The action came after the Senate voted to extract the bill from the Senate Judiciary Committee and then concurred with the House's amendment to the measure. The House voted 71-20 to approve the bill on Thursday.
"With today's vote in the Senate, the Legislature has provided responsible, common sense guidelines regarding firearms and sporting events," Hutchinson said Friday.
"I am pleased that the legislature, with broad majorities in both chambers, acted to exempt collegiate sporting events and other sensitive areas when there are adequate security plans in place. I intend to sign the legislation on Monday," the Republican governor said in a written statement. The effective date of SB724 will be Sept. 1, upon the governor's signature.
On March 22, Hutchinson signed Act 562, a law to create an "enhanced" concealed-carry license that would allow the permit holders with up to eight hours of extra training to carry their weapons onto the campuses of public two- and four-year colleges and into many publicly funded buildings, including the state Capitol.
Act 562 also will become effective Sept. 1 and will require the Arkansas State Police to formulate rules for a firearm-training program within 120 days of that effective date. More than 220,000 Arkansans have concealed-carry permits.
The day after Hutchinson signed Act 562, the Senate voted to approve an earlier version of SB724.
Before the House approved its amended version of SB724, Greg Sankey, commissioner of the Southeastern Conference in which the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Razorbacks compete, said he opposed Act 562 and warned it could affect scheduling and other aspects of the athletic program if guns were allowed into sporting events.
In addition, Arkansas State University head football Coach Blake Anderson called the law "a recipe for disaster," and officials from the Sun Belt and Southland conferences released statements Thursday supporting the changes that SB724 would make. The National Rifle Association opposed the bill.
Under SB724, an institution of higher education that hosts or sponsors a collegiate athletic event and UAMS and the State Hospital may submit a security plan to the state police for approval that designates certain areas as "a firearm-sensitive area where possession of a concealed handgun by a licensee ... is prohibited."
The firearm-sensitive area on a campus would be limited to where a collegiate athletic event is held.
Two- and four-year colleges would be required to submit a security plan to the state police annually or no later than five days before a scheduled athletic event under SB724.
The state police would be required to approve or disapprove a security plan for such an event within 72 hours of the receipt of the plan. "Otherwise, [the state police] shall approve or disapprove a security plan within 10 business days," under SB724.
Colleges would be required to post a notification at all firearm-sensitive areas that possession of a concealed handgun is prohibited under SB724. The bill also would bar concealed-permit holders from public day cares. Act 562 prohibits them from public kindergartens.
Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Little Rock, who voted for the bill, told senators that the right to carry a gun is a fundamental and cherished right.
The Legislature dramatically expanded gun rights in Arkansas during this year's regular session and it was the most expansive increase in gun rights in the history of the General Assembly, he said.
Yet Sen. Hutchinson said 90 percent of Arkansans don't want guns in the stadiums.
"That's our obligation, people, to represent our constituents, not the NRA, as much as I appreciate the organization, as much as I appreciate their willingness to work with us this session," he said.
But Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, who didn't vote on SB724, said he objected to the Senate extracting the bill out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday.
"We have consistently gone around the process to get done what some people want to get done," he said.
"It's an embarrassment to the SEC. It's an embarrassment to put the NRA in this situation. It's an embarrassment for the state. The way this process has been handled," King said.
Earlier, Sen. Trent Garner, R-El Dorado, who voted against SB724, told senators that the right to carry a gun is a civil right, enumerated in the state and federal constitutions and "a God-given right.
"I will always support giving people the right to choose how they want to defend themselves," he said.
"Sometimes, there are just bad people who want take a bad action. ... Let's let law-abiding citizens protect themselves. Let's give them that right and that ability," Garner said.
But Sen. Stephanie Flowers, D-Pine Bluff, said she respects Garner but "people have to agree to disagree."
She said she had brothers and an uncle who served in combat.
"Where I'm from, the God I serve does not tell me that I have a fundamental right to carry a gun," she said. "They are peaceable people, loving people. And the God I serve is a God of love."
Flowers said her sister was shot and killed while she was at college.
"So don't tell me about no damn, 'Everybody gotta have a gun.' Go to hell with your guns. I'm voting for the damn bill," she said.
UAMS Chancellor Dan Rahn said Friday, "I am pleased that Senate Bill 724 was passed today by the General Assembly.
"We appreciate the members' and the governor's willingness to work with us and listen to our unique concerns as the state's only academic medical center," he said in a written statement issued Friday night.
A Section on 04/01/2017