Benton County officials eying weapons in offices

BENTONVILLE -- Benton County's justices of the peace are set to consider allowing elected officials and employees with concealed carry permits to have their weapons in county buildings.

Pat Adams, justice of the peace for District 6 and Brent Meyers, justice of the peace for District 14, are listed as co-sponsors of the proposal.

Meyers said he feels the security provided by the county is inadequate.

"The main thing is I feel any legislative body is subject to the wrath of the community," Meyers said. "Any legislative body, when you get to a higher level, has some kind of security, whether its the capital police or something else. We have nothing. If someone who's insane or someone with a bad attitude comes in there we are kind of vulnerable just sitting there. I know a number of us do have concealed carry permits. Right now, if we should screw up and carry it in, we're breaking the law."

Arkansas law on concealed handguns prohibits permit holders from carrying weapons in a number of places. The list begins with "any police station, sheriff's station, or Department of Arkansas State Police station" and includes highway police and Department of Transportation facilities and adjacent ground.

Legislative Committee

Benton County’s Legislative Committee is set to consider allowing employees and elected officials to carry concealed handguns in some county buildings. The committee will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Quorum Court of the County Administration Building, 215 E. Central Ave. in Bentonville.

Source: Staff report

The list of prohibited places also includes "any courthouse, courthouse annex, or other building owned, leased or regularly used by a county for conducting court proceedings or housing a county office." The law provides exceptions for county employees, elected officials and justices of the peace if the Quorum Court approves a plan to allow the concealed carrying of handguns that is incorporated into the local security and emergency preparedness plan.

The law doesn't allow members of the public to have concealed handguns in any of the prohibited areas.

The county proposal as drafted still lists as prohibited places "any place otherwise prohibited by federal or Arkansas law" along with a courtroom; a facility housing any operation of the Benton County Sheriff, including the jail; the Benton County Juvenile Detention Facility; any building owned or leased by Benton County in which circuit or district court proceedings are conducted; any state office located on property owned or leased by Benton County; a school, college, community college or university event.

The proposal allows elected officials and justices of the peace to have concealed handguns in other county facilities and county employees "to the extent such is approved by the elected official for whom the employees work."

Sheriff Shawn Holloway is a member of the Security Committee. He said he approved of the policy as drafted. As part of the policy, the Sheriff's Office is responsible for establishing and holding a training course for anyone who wants to be eligible although the policy also allows the county judge to waive the requirement an individual complete a training course.

"I'm in agreement as long as it's done responsibly," Holloway said. "It makes the work environment safer for Benton County employees."

County Judge Barry Moehring said he isn't taking a position on the proposal. He said the proposal was discussed at an elected officials meeting and the group asked for a survey of employees on the issue.

"We thought it would be prudent to see what the employees' feelings would be," Moehring said. "We thought it's important for the Quorum Court to know that as well."

Channing Barker, communications director, said she received 101 responses in the first two hours after sending out the survey and by Friday had received 181 responses from 682 employees who were sent one by email. In the initial 101 responses, almost 66 percent said they feel safe in their current county building. Almost half said they would feel safer if their building had a metal detector and screening station. About 44 percent supported allowing all employees to carry concealed handguns and 33 percent favored allowing concealed carry for police officers or sheriff's deputies only. Two-thirds said allowing employees to carry concealed weapons wouldn't affect their decision to work for the county. The county will continue taking responses through Wednesday.

Ordinances allowing for the carrying of concealed handguns by employees in county facilities have been adopted in Baxter, Cross, Logan and White counties, according to information from the Association of Arkansas Counties.

In Faulkner County, the Quorum Court adopted its ordinance in 2015, soon after the state Legislature approved Act 1259, giving county governments the option to do so. David Hogue, county attorney, said the ordinance was adopted as a precautionary measure, and there hasn't been an instance when someone attempted to use a handgun in a county building.

Hogue said there were instances when members of the public brought handguns into county buildings, even though all of the buildings had signs posted saying it was prohibited. He said employees were concerned about dealing with such people if they seemed angry or became threatening.

In Crawford County, where there was a shooting incident at a county courthouse six years ago, the Quorum Court recently rejected a proposal to ban all but law enforcement officers from carrying weapons in county buildings.

In addition to banning weapons such as guns, knives, razors, swords and scissors, the proposal also would have barred anyone with a concealed-carry license or an enhanced concealed-carry license from taking a weapon into county buildings. The only exceptions would be law enforcement officers, members of the National Guard and military members acting in the line of duty.

Crawford County's Quorum Court members said armed officials could respond to threats at the courthouses before police could reach the buildings.

Sebastian County Judge David Hudson said his county is working to improve security at courthouses and other county buildings. He said there have been no incidents in his county and the Quorum Court hasn't proposed any ordinance allowing concealed handguns in county facilities.

"We are being proactive with that," Hudson said. "I think in counties where they do not have enhanced security they have looked at it as a way to provide some level of security. It's my judgment that in a county that has fully secured its facilities, it's not necessary and it complicates matters."

Sue Madison, justice of the peace in Washington County, said she hadn't heard of any interest in allowing county employees to carry concealed handguns and she wouldn't support such a proposal.

"I think it would be a very bad idea," she said. "We have metal detectors and highly trained security officers at our buildings. I think we're doing what we should be doing."

Adams said he's concerned about the safety of employees and others in county buildings. He said as the area grows in population, he expects to see an increase in violent crime and people have the right to protect themselves.

"You can't put enough cops on the streets to take care of everything," he said.

NW News on 05/27/2018

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