A nonbinding resolution declaring Arkansas a state where one can carry a handgun without a permit -- also known as "constitutional carry" -- was endorsed by a House committee Tuesday, while advocates and opponents of gun control flooded the Capitol.
More than 120 members of the gun-control group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, clad in red shirts, held an advocacy day, according to Austin Bailey, a veteran member from Little Rock. Bailey said the group was focused on opposing a number of proposals during this year's regular legislative session.
The group's visit coincided with a committee hearing on House Resolution 1013 by Rep. Brandt Smith, R-Jonesboro, which would declare that any citizen can carry firearms around the state, either in the open or concealed, without a permit.
The meeting room for the House Judiciary Committee, which debated the resolution, was quickly packed by members of that group, as well as gun advocates and others. The Capitol Police stopped admitting more people before the start of the meeting.
Left outside the meeting room were dozens of activists on both sides of the issue. Among them was Jan Morgan, the Hot Springs gun-range owner who challenged Gov. Asa Hutchinson in the Republican gubernatorial primary last year, specifically by denouncing him as weak on gun rights.
[RELATED: Complete Democrat-Gazette coverage of the Arkansas Legislature]
Morgan did not address the committee, though Linda Collins, a former GOP state senator from Pocahontas, did. Collins told the committee that HR1013 was "affirming the laws that we already have on the books."
Several Democrats on the Judiciary Committee disagreed. A member of Moms Demand Action, Laura Cartwright Hardy, spoke against the bill.
"Permit-less carry is extremely dangerous, and we shouldn't be encouraging it in Arkansas," Cartwright Hardy said.
The legality of what gun-rights advocates call constitutional carry has been the subject of much debate in Arkansas since the Legislature passed Act 746 of 2013, which dealt with the offense of carrying a weapon. Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and Hutchinson have both opined that the law allows for handguns to be carried openly.
Not all prosecutors and police chiefs in the state, however, have taken that opinion.
Democrats argued that if Republicans wanted to make the law clear, they should change the law to do so. As a nonbinding resolution, HR1013 would not be codified into law.
While an earlier meeting of the Judiciary Committee deadlocked and failed to register a vote on the resolution, the committee on Tuesday endorsed the resolution by a voice vote, sending it to the House floor.
Hutchinson, who would not have to sign the resolution if it were adopted, has declined to take a stance on it.
The governor, a Republican endorsed by the National Rifle Association, met briefly with members of Moms Demand Action, telling them "We're listening," according to a Twitter post from one advocate.
A Section on 02/13/2019