Got Guns? Church Carry Bill Passed By Senate Committee
By: Adam Rodriguez
Updated: January 24, 2013
Pine Bluff Senator Stephanie Flowers isn't a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, but she made it a point to be there Wednesday.
Flowers was allowed to present an amendment to Senator Bryan King's Church Protection Act of 2013, making churches carry $100,000 of liability insurance for churches who opt to allow guns.
"It wasn't meant to be mean," Flowers said. "It was meant to be protective. My main concern was to give some protection for the public."
Arkansas churches are protected by charitable immunity, meaning they can't be sued. But Flowers says if churches want to assume the additional risk posed by allowing guns, they should provide a safety net for parishioners.
"We have people who own vehicles. We require them to have liability insurance," Flowers said. "So I don't think this is far-fetched. I think this is good public policy."
Committee members voiced several concerns about Flowers' amendment, but Senator Bryan King, the the bill's sponsor, didn't feel the proposed changes were mean-spirited.
"It wasn't a hostile amendment in any means," King said. "(Flowers) just had a different perspective and wanted to bring it to committee and present it."
But King opposed the amendment, and the committee voted it down. Flowers hoped for a better outcome, but says it's not too late to make the change.
"I'm hopeful the sponsor, Senator King, might reconsider," Flowers said.
King says it's possible the Senate will debate The Church Protection Act of 2013 as early as Thursday.
