No UCA allies for gun-law backer

Fayetteville’s Collins hears only skeptics at town hall

“By allowing concealed-carry holders to carry on campus, we create a deterrent effect because there’s somebody there who may be able to stop” a shooting plot, Rep. Charlie Collins said Thursday in presenting his measure.
“By allowing concealed-carry holders to carry on campus, we create a deterrent effect because there’s somebody there who may be able to stop” a shooting plot, Rep. Charlie Collins said Thursday in presenting his measure.

CONWAY -- State Rep. Charlie Collins won the state House's support for his guns-on-campuses bill Thursday, but he got anything but congratulations and thanks when he spoke at a town hall at the University of Central Arkansas later.








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Instead, the meeting in a small, crowded auditorium was at times contentious, marked by unwelcome laughter more than once, complaints of fear-mongering and an emotional plea from one woman.

"Why do you want us to be in the front lines of being shot at?" she asked, referring to someone's earlier comment that shooters would aim for professors early on if they thought the teachers might be carrying guns.

Not a single person other than Collins spoke in favor of the bill.

One man asked Collins, R-Fayetteville, if he would consider requiring that the employees' concealed weapons use a certain kind of bullet.

"What I don't want to do is to micromanage the program," Collins said, and the crowd began laughing.

Opponents of the bill say the decision on who should get to carry guns on campus should belong to the universities.

A young woman reminded Collins that he had said shooters can't be profiled by ethnicity or other factors and asked, "How do we know a faculty member or a staff member might not be one of these people" who would use their gun in the wrong way?

Collins said Arkansas' concealed-carry law requires extensive checking and said that if such situations had been a problem elsewhere, people would have already read about it in the news.

Faced with similar questions and concerns about other things going wrong, such as a staff member with a concealed weapon accidentally shooting the wrong person, Collins said his plan might not repel "every crazy killer" but he believed it would help.

"But I agree: There are no guarantees," he said.

A man asked Collins, "The question is, why do you know more than the law officials in this state" who oppose more guns on college campuses? The remark drew applause.

Another man asked, "What makes you more knowledgeable about campus safety" than college presidents?

Collins repeatedly said the country has seen "murder, murder, murder ... again and again" -- a comment that prompted one man to complain about fear-mongering in the country.

One man said there have been no shooting deaths on Arkansas college campuses since 2011.

"We don't have any evidence that [Collins' plan] is effective on campuses," the man said. "And we haven't asked for any of this."

Collins replied, "I definitely agree with this: The colleges have not asked me to do this."

In fact, a 2013 bill gave Arkansas' universities a choice of whether to allow employees to carry concealed handguns on campus. Every university in the state opted out.

UCA's new president, Houston Davis, is among the university presidents who have spoken out against Collins' new bill. Davis' predecessor, Tom Courtway, also opposed staff members, other than police officers, carrying guns on campus.

In a recent statement, Davis said, "We agree with Governor [Asa] Hutchinson and support the current law that grants an institution's governing body the right to decide whether to allow the carrying of guns on campus."

Davis added: "UCA employs 28 full-time, sworn police officers who have all received Rapid Response Training. This is a specialized, integrated training on police response in emergency events. We value the right as a university to determine what is best when it comes to the safety of our campus."

During the town-hall meeting, a woman suggested that the state's focus should be on mental health in the battle against random public shootings.

"I feel like this law is barbaric," she said of Collins' bill.

"There's been a leap forward on counseling and education" in recent years, Collins said. "It's just that in my view, it's not mutually exclusive."

In response to a plea for more background checks, he said people who get guns illegally are causing the problems.

A woman asked him to what extent the National Rifle Association had influenced his legislation.

"Their influence on this is zero," he said.

State Desk on 02/03/2017

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