Guns On Campus In Arkansas? Group Wants Permit Holders To Be Able To Carry Weapons

Arkansas gun rights activists want to be able to carry weapons on every part of a college campus -- not just university grounds. Currently, permit holders can carry weapons on campus but are forbidden from bringing them into school buildings.

The pro-gun group Arkansas Carry wants the right to tote their weapons in campus buildings, Arkansas News reports.

Arkansas Carry Chairman Steve D. Jones takes issue with a 2003 attorney general's opinion, which states that colleges can prohibit guns on campus by posting signs asserting the ban. Arkansas News has more:

Jones said he believes the opinion issued by then-Attorney General Mike Beebe incorrectly includes universities or colleges in the concealed carry law's definition of "entities" that can put up signage. The Legislature meant for the term to include only private businesses, Jones said.

According to the Arkansas Times, the state's Higher Education Department responded to a letter from Jones addressing the issue, citing the "statutory authority for colleges and universities -- and anyone else exercising physical control over a place -- to prohibit handguns on their property, concealed or not, by posting a written notice of the prohibition." Read both letters here.

What do you think? Should guns be allowed on college campuses? Weigh in below.

Comments

[Tom Joad]

07:39 PM on 01/25/2011

No Guns On College Campuses.

[Rooster Coburn]

09:20 AM on 01/07/2011

Hopefully we will soon allow licensed concealed weapons carriers to keep our handguns on our persons while on Florida campuses if new laws working their way thru our state legislature are passed and signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott. Google "florida sb 45" and "florida sb 234" to see how gun laws can be reformed.

[johnnystaccato]

10:04 AM on 01/07/2011

Based upon what we know of Scott's priorities, it's more likely that Florida's college campuses will become Walmarts.

[enlightened45]

12:36 PM on 01/07/2011

Floridians not having buyers' remorse yet over Scott purchasing the governorship with about $70,000,000 of taxpayer defrauded money? He should be in the Florida Big House instead of the Statehouse.

[Dimensio]

04:21 PM on 01/07/2011

I "flagged" this comment in error due to a sudden alteration of the page format during page load.  I apologize for the error.

[ScorpioTop]

03:13 AM on 01/06/2011

Smart idea? Isn't 13,000 Americans killed by gun use yearly enough? Guns are for a "well regulated militia" as the Constitution states. Its time to stop the carnage.

[Dimensio]

08:44 AM on 01/06/2011

The Constitution of the United States of America addresses arms only in protecting the right of "the people" to keep and bear them.  Your assertion, therefore, is false.  Additionally, you have been informed previously of the inaccuracy of your claim; as such, you are knowingly issuing a statement that is demonstrably incongruent with reality.

[enlightened45]

08:59 AM on 01/06/2011

Conveniently redacting the prefatory or operative phrase in the 2nd again, Dim? It does make the gun proliferation in this country much easier to defend if the constitution is written for one's self-serving agenda.

[ExitZero]

03:33 PM on 01/06/2011

"“Your denial of the existence of an entity created by federal law does not actually render that entity nonexisten­t.”

Doesn't the fact that this entity does not in fact exist render it nonexistent.

Let's think about this. "All" males aged 17-45 are part of an unorganized militia, BUT THEY DON'T KNOW IT!!! Let's try and stay confined to the world of reality, not Red Dawn fantasies, mkay?

[RevJimIII]

03:05 PM on 01/06/2011

Approximately 80 million firearms owners did not commit violent crimes every year.

[johnnystaccato]

04:14 PM on 01/06/2011

I'm sure that the hundreds of thousands of people who are directly impacted by gun violence every year can take great solace in your little factoid.

[SirLaxer]

10:55 PM on 01/05/2011

Yeah, this is definitely a step-forward in thinking; obviously we've learned from Columbine and Va. Tech that guns are welcome additions to any campus.

[johnnystaccato]

11:01 PM on 01/05/2011

It is the Utopia that gun rights activists envision for us.

[RevJimIII]

03:17 PM on 01/06/2011

Your statement is either assumption or projection, can you identify which?

[RevJimIII]

03:29 PM on 01/06/2011

I keep trying to respond to your comments to me but it seems you keep getting scrubbed...

[MMRDO]

01:33 AM on 01/06/2011

What do both of those places have in common? They were gun free zones. The police could not realistically respond to those situations.

[Soule23]

10:31 PM on 01/05/2011

More weapons make everyone safer. That's why we should actively encourage the development of nu.kes in Iran and North Korea.

[RevJimIII]

03:22 PM on 01/06/2011

Irrelevant corrrelation.

[dvkrlsn]

07:07 PM on 01/06/2011

Soule--the only people talking about nukes are the same people who deny that the 2nd amendment protects an individual right

[Tuigim]

10:26 PM on 01/05/2011

Today a student shot a principal.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/05/millard-south-high-school-shooting_n_804875.html
Guns on campus? NO

[MMRDO]

01:36 AM on 01/06/2011

Columbine, Jonesboro, VA Tech, what do they have in common? gun free zones.

[johnnystaccato]

08:38 AM on 01/06/2011

And shooters who had easy access to their weapons, thanks to America's gun glut and the lax laws restricting their purchase and use.

[Dimensio]

02:04 AM on 01/06/2011

Your comparison of a criminal act committed by a high school student who illegally possessed a firearm on a high school campus with individuals who are lawfully licensed to carry concealed firearms doing so, when permitted, on college campuses is invalid and dishonest, as is consistent with my observation that advocates of civilian disarmament are frequently ill-informed, dishonest and irrational.

[johnnystaccato]

09:02 AM on 01/06/2011

Your collective campaigning for gun proliferation enabled the criminal act committed by the high school student, and all others.

[Tuigim]

09:37 PM on 01/05/2011

Function of a car: transportation
Function of a gun: killing

[OdinsEye]

09:44 PM on 01/05/2011

Function of a car: racing
Function of a firearm: poking holes in paper and breaking clay discs

[Dimensio]

02:03 AM on 01/06/2011

Either many firearm owners routinely misuse their firearms, or your statement is not accurate.

[johnnystaccato]

12:17 PM on 01/06/2011

Yours may be the most flaccid re-phrasing of "If guns are designed to kill, mine must be broken" to date.

[Just4]

06:12 PM on 01/05/2011

Oops. 1.5 million a year...

[johnnystaccato]

07:04 PM on 01/05/2011

The first number was no more far-fetched than the second.

[Just4]

06:11 PM on 01/05/2011

That's at least 1.5 million times a day on the DGU...

[RevJimIII]

04:32 PM on 01/05/2011

Oregon's population is closing in on 4 million citizens, what are the chances that I know this one specific person?

[RevJimIII]

04:41 PM on 01/05/2011

It just occurred to me, Dreamweaver is from that part of the country as well, why did you not include DW on your list?

[enlightened45]

03:37 PM on 01/05/2011

Trying to cover all the articles will keep them c and ping all night......not to mention all the anti-gunners who are showing up more often to make comments.....A sign of the times?

[DreamWeaver2nd]

04:11 PM on 01/05/2011

Good morning, enlightened45. The supporters of reckles unregulated gun proliferation are a menace to civil society. I hope we can get this lethal proliferation, and the attendant destructive propaganda, exposed for what it is to more Americans. It becomes very clear that our public safety, general welfare, and freedom itself are jeopardized by this for-profit mischief of reckless support to arm more and more Americans without sensible laws to restrict and regulate buying and selling of guns.

[dvkrlsn]

06:51 PM on 01/05/2011

U45--and all the newbies are as misinformed as you and DW are

[Dimensio]

03:49 PM on 01/05/2011

For what reason are you concerned about such incidents, given your open endorsement of criminal activity, guffman?

[johnnystaccato]

04:00 PM on 01/05/2011

The referenced incidents involve personal injury, hence my concern. Illegal infringement on the rights of gun fetishists, on the other hand, is of no concern to me whatsoever.

[Thirdpower]

02:43 PM on 01/05/2011

And in Utah, the Univ. attempted to violate state law and got slapped down in court. Then they instructed their Campus police to harass individuals carrying and to make up charges. Now they suspended officers who blew the whistle on this.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50985304-76/university-campus-officers-policy.html.csp

I'm sure they can expect more lawsuits.

[johnnystaccato]

02:51 PM on 01/05/2011

Good for them. Anybody who attempts to stand up to gun nuts deserves a contribution to their defense fund.

[Thirdpower]

03:02 PM on 01/05/2011

So you support violating the law?

[Elk Hunter 1]

04:58 PM on 01/05/2011

So anyone who wants to carry a firearm is a gun nut? That is a pretty big asumtion that you are making.

I am around the University of Utah campus a lot. I always have a firearm in my vehicle while I am down there. I am not breaking any laws, and until I am I will continue to carry in Salt Lake everywhere I can. There are lots of people who carry in this state. I can assure you that we are not nuts.

[johnnystaccato]

03:00 PM on 01/05/2011

Good for them. I will proudly contribute to their defense fund.

[Thirdpower]

03:02 PM on 01/05/2011

You support violating the law?

[Tuigim]

02:22 PM on 01/05/2011

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/05/10-year-old-boy-kills-mother_n_804785.html

Yeah, giving people with behavioral problems or people in highly stressed places guns makes NO sense.


SAD story above in link

[johnnystaccato]

02:34 PM on 01/05/2011

But, but, that 10-year-old was a criminal. Only criminals misuse guns. Don't you understand?

[MMRDO]

01:48 AM on 01/06/2011

Anyone can misuse anything.

[Dimensio]

02:35 PM on 01/05/2011

The incident that you have referenced did not involve an individual who was legally licensed to carry concealed weapons; the individual involved in the incident was not even of legal age to obtain such a license.  Additionally, no one has advocated providing firearms to individuals who suffer from behaviour problems nor who are in "highly stressed places".  You are attempting to justify your position through use of irrelevant data, which is consistent with my observation that advocates of civilian disarmament advocates are frequently ill-informed, dishonest and irrational.

[caesarf]

07:07 PM on 01/05/2011

Those were his very own rifles, lovingly given to him by grandpa. No need for license -those babies were legal.

[Just4]

12:50 PM on 01/05/2011

And then there's Utah...

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50985304-76/university-campus-policy-officers.html.csp?page=1

[Dimensio]

01:44 PM on 01/05/2011

Advocates of civilian disarmament readily and correctly recognize the Utah regulation that you have referenced to create legitimate danger.

[considerthis]

12:47 PM on 01/05/2011

Should guns be allowed on college campuses? Simple question, simple answer. NO

[Old Jarhead]

12:49 PM on 01/05/2011

Why?

[Tuigim]

12:52 PM on 01/05/2011

It's dangerous.

[Dimensio]

01:40 PM on 01/05/2011

Why?

[Thirdpower]

02:46 PM on 01/05/2011

It's a 'crime of fear'.