BREAKING NEWS: ARKANSAS COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES UNANIMOUSLY SAY 'NO' TO GUNS ON CAMPUS

In a forceful and decisive show of unanimity against Arkansas Act 226, sponsored by Representative Charlie Collins and which would have allowed faculty & staff with concealed-carry licenses to bring their guns on campus, every public and private college and university in the state of Arkansas has voted to opt out of the law.

To see the complete list of schools opting out of this legislation, see our Facebook page, Arkansans Against Guns on Campus.

This is significant for three reasons.

1. The college and university boards that voted this legislation down represent the broadest demographics in the state.From public schools to private schools, from large state universities to smaller community colleges, Arkansans directly affected by Act 226 have spoken out against the legislative actions of the radical gun lobbies and the legislators they sponsor.
2. The unanimous decision to opt out of Act 226 provides clear evidence that the powerful gun lobbies can be successfully resisted. While Arkansans have no centralized and well funded gun-control lobby to match the prowess of organizations like the NRA, we have developed smaller and dedicated organizations, blogs, Twitter feeds, and Facebook pages that united overnight around this common cause. These actions should provide hope for the future, as we move forward committed to maintaining the safe campuses that have long distinguished Arkansas higher education.
3. It is also our sincere hope that the legislators who sponsored this bill will realize that top-down legislation of this sort, in the face of stringent public opposition by the afffected constituencies, creates an unnecessary divisiveness within the state.Arkansas, like many states in the region, confronts complex and genuinely partisan issues. To force our institutions of higher education to consider every year an Act that they have resisted from the beginning, and now resisted unanimously, is a waste both of our resources and our time.

We hope, in fact, that our successful resistance to Act 226 will serve as a model to other institutions who face similar legislation.

Lucrative PAC's, well-oiled DC lobbies, wealthy contributors from outside of the state whose children will most likely not attend our schools—these forces represent substantial opponents, but Arkansas has now joined the ranks of those similarly under-funded coalitions and organizations around the country—and there are many of them, and their numbers are growing—that have relied on the will of the people to craft a voice in opposition to gun violence.

We believe that our successful resistance is part of a larger, growing consensus around the country, and we further feel that our victory here in Arkansas derives in part from the support and advice that we received from organizations in other states that have been struggling against gun violence for years.

Together, we feel confident that our progress will be steady and sure. A consensus has emerged, and we here in Arkansas are happy to be a part of it.

 

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Comments

[Joe I.]

All these institutions have police and security forces on campus, something public schools don't have. That's why they didn't need to arm staff. Public schools desire the same level of protection, but can't afford it, therefore the reason to arm certain trained staff.

[Thomas Leavitt]

Which "public schools"? All the ones who opted out? I.e., all of them? Doesn't seem like any of them "desire" this. Maybe y'all could create your own privately funded college, and arm every teacher and staff member, and let every student and visitor carry as well. Then, the rest of us can pay for a charter bus to carry a bunch of tattoed, gun toting gangbangers of all races and ethnicities to come for a tour and talk about the practical use of guns in self-defense. I'm sure you'd welcome them all with open arms, right? Just exercising their Constitutional rights, sho' 'nuff.

Seriously, put a thousand heavily armed individuals under great stress in small confined spaces. I want to see what the mortality rate is over a ten year period. Suspect there'd be a lot more gun related fatalities than on your typical "unarmed" campus.

As for the effectiveness of staff with concealed carry weapons. Dude walks on campus with an 30 round clip and a semi-automatic rifle, wearing kevlar body armor, first thing he'd do would be to take out the staff member in the room authorized to carry a weapon, before they even drew it. As for the second (or, probably third) classroom, where the teacher is aware in advance that there's a gunman lose on campus, I'd point out that studies show that the accuracy of non-professional military folks (and even most military professionals) with small arms, under stress / in combat situations, is pretty damned low. Now, the freaks who decide to go out this way aren't exactly particularly typically skilled or accurate either, but I'll take a crazy dude wearing body armor and carrying a high capacity semi-automatic weapon (or two) over a stressed out professor trying to take him out with a Glock 19.

[Joe I.]

Quite frankly, Mr. Leavitt, you're an idiot. And probably the main reason that we are going to see more relaxation of gun laws in this state in the next legislative session. Idiots like you poison the well of dialogue and discourse.