Some Arkansas Lawmakers Oppose Assault Rifle Ban
By: Cassidy Hodges, KNWA-TV, Fayetteville
Updated: January 17, 2013
Some Arkansas lawmakers are preparing to put a ban on the assault rifle ban.
"We lost 20 little babies and that was devastating," says Brent Meyers, a Justice of the Peace in Benton County.
A tragedy that set the White House into action.
Emotions run high as executive orders on firearms ring throughout the country.
"I think there was a big sigh of relief today that the President did not introduce the assault rifle ban as an executive order," says State Senator Jon Woods (R-Springdale).
But proposed legislation by the president is leaving the Northwest Arkansas lawmaker uncomfortable.
"It's unfortunate where the federal government has gotten so big and their imposing a lot of new laws and executive orders upon the states that doesn't really fit for every state," he says.
So Senator Woods and a few fellow politicians are drafting a bill that would ignore any federal ban on assault rifles.
"The population doesn't need to be worried about their guns being taken away. It's just unproductive and unhealthy when you start talking about more and more gun regulations," says Woods.
And here in Northwest Arkansas, Brent Meyers is looking forward to the state bill.
"We're a republic, the states have individual state rights and one individual, president or not, really doesn't have the right to impose his will on us. Like I said before, we have three branches of government, let's use them," says Meyers.
He's a Justice of the Peace in Benton County, now asking his Quorum Court to consider backing the bill that would keep guns in the hands of Arkansans.
The Arkansas bill is formatted pretty closely to a piece of legislation in Wyoming.
The state of Texas has also put laws in place to ignore any federal ban on assault rifles.
Click here to watch this report.
"We lost 20 little babies and that was devastating," says Brent Meyers, a Justice of the Peace in Benton County.
A tragedy that set the White House into action.
Emotions run high as executive orders on firearms ring throughout the country.
"I think there was a big sigh of relief today that the President did not introduce the assault rifle ban as an executive order," says State Senator Jon Woods (R-Springdale).
But proposed legislation by the president is leaving the Northwest Arkansas lawmaker uncomfortable.
"It's unfortunate where the federal government has gotten so big and their imposing a lot of new laws and executive orders upon the states that doesn't really fit for every state," he says.
So Senator Woods and a few fellow politicians are drafting a bill that would ignore any federal ban on assault rifles.
"The population doesn't need to be worried about their guns being taken away. It's just unproductive and unhealthy when you start talking about more and more gun regulations," says Woods.
And here in Northwest Arkansas, Brent Meyers is looking forward to the state bill.
"We're a republic, the states have individual state rights and one individual, president or not, really doesn't have the right to impose his will on us. Like I said before, we have three branches of government, let's use them," says Meyers.
He's a Justice of the Peace in Benton County, now asking his Quorum Court to consider backing the bill that would keep guns in the hands of Arkansans.
The Arkansas bill is formatted pretty closely to a piece of legislation in Wyoming.
The state of Texas has also put laws in place to ignore any federal ban on assault rifles.
Click here to watch this report.
