This week the Arkansas House passed a campus carry bill that will require state colleges and universities to allow concealed carry permit holders to be armed on campus for self-defense.
The bill is the complete opposite of the kind of legislation enacted in Ohio, where the state ban on campus carry was removed but state colleges and universities were still given the prerogative to ban concealed carriers from being armed for self-defense on their campuses.
According to NWA, the bill was sponsored by State Representative Charlie Collins (R-84). He stood on the House floor and “read off the schools where mass shootings have happened across the country,” describing “the perpetrators as cold and calculating and said they plan meticulously to inflict maximum destruction.” Collins further added, “By allowing conceal carry holders to carry on campus, we create a deterrent effect because there’s somebody there who may be able to stop this plot.”
State Representative Greg Leding (D-86) opposed the bill, suggesting it will make the job of law enforcement tougher. He did not explain how showing up to a campus where the perpetrator has been shot and killed is tougher for law enforcement than showing up to a gun-free campus like Virginia Tech to find 32 unarmed innocents shot to death.
The campus carry legislation passed on a vote of 71 to 22 and now goes to the Arkansas Senate.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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