A panel of Arkansas lawmakers on Wednesday approved proposed changes to state gun laws that will expand some areas where carrying firearms is allowed.
(Photo by John Sykes/Arkansas Advocate)
Arkansans would be able to carry guns at a number of new locations, including school campuses and bus stops, under potential bills to be introduced in next year’s legislative session.
Lawmakers gave a preview of some of the potential changes in a meeting of the Game and Fish/State Police Subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council Wednesday. The recommendations stem from a study of the state’s gun laws carried out by the committee since late 2023.
Arkansas is a “constitutional carry” state, in which licenses are not required for residents to legally carry a firearm, either openly or concealed. Despite that, some conflicts exist with federal gun laws, especially surrounding certain public facilities like schools.
One change would allow Arkansans to carry firearms onto the campuses of K-12 schools. Little Rock resident Anna Morshedi spoke against it, noting a fatal mass shooting at a Georgia high school had taken place just hours before Wednesday’s discussion.
“There will be students at high school who are over 18, who then fall into that category. And so, allowing a student to have a firearm on campus seems like a very dangerous decision to make,” she said.
Morshedi noted the change doesn’t apply solely to parents picking up or dropping off students at school, but to any Arkansas resident who isn’t prohibited from possessing a firearm.
“And since… we’re 50th in the nation for our gun law strength, it means that someone who’s been convicted of a hate crime or who’s in the middle of a domestic abuse case who can legally be in possession of a firearm, can now be on our K-12 school grounds.”
Other proposals floated in Wednesday’s meeting include allowing firearms at school bus stops, and for certain concealed-carry violations to be treated similar to traffic offenses instead of misdemeanors or felonies. Another recommendation would seek to unify the state’s licensing scheme, rather than having separate schemes for concealed and open carry.
Lawmakers also approved a recommendation to study a potential path to restore firearm ownership rights to individuals who had previously been involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital. Subcommittee members chose not to discuss gun regulations around Civil War reenactments, though chair Rep. Josh Miller, R-Heber Springs, jokingly asked whether regulations would be more lenient to those who fought for the Confederacy.
While most proposals discussed Wednesday seek to loosen gun regulations, state Sen. Ricky Hill, R-Cabot, voiced his support for limiting where state Board of Corrections and Parole Board members can carry a firearm. The proposal would ban members of those two boards from carrying a weapon inside a prison, or other facilities where law enforcement officers are generally allowed to carry a gun.
“These board members who are appointed to these positions are given more authority than the legislative body to carry into these places. So I don’t think they should have any more authority than anyone else,” Hill said.
Members of the Game & Fish/State Police subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council will vote to finalize their recommendations in a meeting on Sept. 16. Arkansas’ next legislative session begins in January.
This story first appeared on Little Rock Public Radio’s website and is reprinted here with permission.