The clarity of ‘Open Carry’

The media in Arkansas is buzzing about how some public officials are claiming that “open carry” is legal in Arkansas, and that it has been since Act 746 passed in 2013. Most of these media reports are stating that Act 746 is hazy, or unclear, and needs clarification, while many pro-gun individuals and groups are declaring the law is clear as a bell.

Who are the people who say Act 746 is unclear, and what is their reasoning? I have put them into separate groups; however, it is clear that these groups have some special reasons to assert the law is ambiguous:
• Anti-Second Amendment individuals, media and anti-gun groups;
• Law enforcement agencies and officers who believe that only they should be allowed to carry handguns;
• Concealed carry instructors and the Arkansas State Police, who believe they will lose money if carry without a permit was allowed; and
• Citizens who require the state to pass laws to “allow” them to exercise their constitutional right to bear arms affirmed to them by the Second Amendment and Arkansas Constitution.

These first three groups base their assertions of vagueness on the fact that law enforcement is split on whether the law allows open carry, not on whether the law is actually ambiguous or not. In fact, they claim the law is unclear, while they intentionally cause as much misunderstanding as possible.

The main cause of confusion comes from a deceitfully misleading Attorney General opinion that was issued in July 2013. In that opinion, then AG Dustin McDaniel made the claim that Act 746 did not allow “so-called open carry (nor did it prohibit it, but he didn’t tell us that). In that disastrous opinion, McDaniel did not even address the change in the law that decriminalized the carry of handguns by persons who were carrying for self-defense purposes only. If he had examined the whole law, he would have had to state the obvious; that Act 746 required prosecutors to prove that a person carrying a handgun was carrying it with the purpose to use it “unlawfully” against another person.

An official Attorney General opinion is still required, one that addresses the “offense of carrying a weapon” (which Dustin McDaniel did not issue an opinion on). These anti-Act 746 groups cannot and do not show how the law is ambiguous. Their only hope is to call it vague and use the confusion caused by the ridiculous AG opinion to try and kill this law.

If Act 746 becomes universally accepted as the law of the land, these first three groups stand to lose a lot. Anti-gun groups will basically lose their fight in the state, as open carry will become more accepted as law-abiding citizens are seen responsibly carrying. Law enforcement that had been using the old law to intimidate and profile will no longer have that ability, as criminal intent must now be proven. Concealed carry instructors may not be hit in the wallet as hard as they fear, as many people who don’t have a permit will be coming to them for safety lessons. However, they are still a force against Act 746 for monetary reasons. The Arkansas State Police will definitely lose a large portion of their millions of dollars that they take in, and they are fighting Act 746 hard, using the bogus Attorney General opinion and the media.

The last group of Arkansas citizens who believe Act 746 is not clear enough is the one I fear the most. It is made up of citizens who believe the legislature should be telling us whether we are “allowed” as citizens to exercise the right to bear arms, even though this right is affirmed in the U.S. Constitution and the Arkansas Constitution. They seem to not understand that laws are written to restrict actions, not to “allow” rights. Since there are now no existing state laws against the general right to bear arms in Arkansas, then the carry of handguns is legal for persons possessing them for self-defense purposes.

For instance, there has never been a general ban on the carry of long guns (shotguns and rifles) in Arkansas, and there is no law that “allows” law-abiding citizens to carry these long guns; however, it is entirely legal to possess and carry these arms in public. To put it in even simpler terms, there are no laws that “allow” drinking ice tea on your front porch, but it is very lawful to do so.

Arkansas Act 746 is very clear. There has not been one successful prosecution in Arkansas for carrying a handgun for self-defense purposes only since Act 746 took effect in August 2013. Hundreds of law-abiding women and men have open carried and concealed carried without a permit in plain view of law enforcement across the state without facing arrest. State office holders are proclaiming Arkansas as a Constitutional Carry state. Even the anti-gun University of Arkansas School of Law has stated that the legislature passed permit-less carry with Act 746. Prosecutors are refusing to prosecute any citizen who is arrested under this law. How much clearer can this law be without putting our rights in the hands of the legislature, to do with how they choose?

The media and anti-Act 746 groups are pushing the legislature to make changes to the law, to make it “more clear.” Changes to Act 746, however, are not needed. The “offense of carrying a weapon” section (the one a person is charged under) states very transparently that if a person is carrying a handgun to unlawfully use it against another person, then they are committing the misdemeanor offense of carrying a weapon.

It is important to also note that other state and federal firearms laws exist that prohibit felons and domestic abusers from carrying weapons. Other laws prohibit handgun possession and carry in federal school zones, parks and government buildings without a permit.

It’s time to tell the truth about Act 746 and it supposedly being “vague” and “confusing.” I challenge any member of the media or law enforcement to come forward and tell the public what is so confusing about following the Constitutions of our great state and country.