Bill would let permitted legislators carry guns at Capitol

A bill was filed Thursday that would allow permitted legislators to carry concealed weapons at state facilities, including the Capitol.

House Bill 1864 by Rep. Mickey Gates, R-Hot Springs, amends state law to say specifically that members of the General Assembly who have a concealed carry permit can carry a handgun at any publicly owned building or facility except prisons and detention facilities operated by the Departments of Correction and Community Correction. Gates’ bill would apply to the House of Representatives and Senate chambers.

Gates, a concealed carry permit holder, said the law prevents him from carrying his firearm from his home to the Capitol.

“I know a lot of times I’ll come over at 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning,” he said. “If I break down on a county road, I want to have a way to protect myself, and it would be a violation of me to actually park my car at the Capitol grounds.”

Gates said there’s no need to have a firearm inside the Capitol but said he would feel safer carrying his firearm than leaving it in his car. He said he sometimes works late in his Capitol office before going to his apartment.

Asked if legislators are a target, Gates said, “We often are. Last session after one of our votes, in one of my buildings I had a glass door broken, and I had a bullet hole through one of my glass windows, and I had two employees there at the time of that shot.”

Prior to this year’s legislative session, manned metal detectors were installed for visitors of the House galleries but not the Senate. Gates said that occurred because Speaker of the House Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia, recognized, “These are not the same days they were 10 years ago.”

Gates pointed out that some people, including retired state troopers, are exempt from the current law, including more than one in the Legislature. He said the safest place in the chamber would be behind one of the representatives with a concealed carry permit.

One of those is Rep. Dwight Tosh, R-Jonesboro, a retired state trooper and troop commander with 37 years on the force. Does he carry a firearm into the House chamber?

“Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don’t. But when I do and when I don’t is not something that I broadcast,” he said. “It’s just occasionally I will have my weapon. I’ve always got it close by.”

Tosh said he still certifies annually through the Arkansas State Police and said he would serve as another line of defense in case something happens in the House chamber. He said fellow legislators have commented about his status.

“To me, it doesn’t matter if it’s your first day on the job, or in my case if it’s 48 years later,” he said. “If I see someone in harm’s way, I’m automatically going to do what I’ve been trained to do, and that is stand up and protect those individuals that are in harm’s way.”