House Panel Approves Guns on College Campuses Bill
By: David Goins, KARK 4 News
Updated: February 12, 2013
A house panel advanced a bill Tuesday allowing faculty and staff to bring guns on Arkansas college campuses.
House bill 1243 allows faculty and staff that already have carry and conceal permits to bring weapons into the classroom.
Public higher education chancellors, including from the University of Arkansas system, expressed opposition to the wording in the bill until the sponsor, Representative Charlie Collins (R-Fayetteville) amended the language to give public universities the ability to "opt-out."
Collins says the legislation addresses a recurring issue that isn't going away.
"In my view we have a significant problem in America, and the problem I'm talking about is the number of crazies and killers that select our college campuses to murder our loved ones," Collins says.
The guns on campus bill will likely go before the entire House of Representatives on Thursday.
House bill 1243 allows faculty and staff that already have carry and conceal permits to bring weapons into the classroom.
Public higher education chancellors, including from the University of Arkansas system, expressed opposition to the wording in the bill until the sponsor, Representative Charlie Collins (R-Fayetteville) amended the language to give public universities the ability to "opt-out."
Collins says the legislation addresses a recurring issue that isn't going away.
"In my view we have a significant problem in America, and the problem I'm talking about is the number of crazies and killers that select our college campuses to murder our loved ones," Collins says.
The guns on campus bill will likely go before the entire House of Representatives on Thursday.
