HB 1249 Requires Colleges to Let Students, Faculty and Visitors Carry Hidden, Loaded Handguns onto Campuses
Additionally, the Bill Forces Public Buildings and Parks to Allow Guns, and Also Allows People to Carry Hidden, Loaded Guns in Crowded Places Such as Sporting Events, Bars and Airports
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Arkansas chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a part of Everytown for Gun Safety, today released the statement applauding SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey’s statement urging that athletic events and sports venues be exempt from the recently signed HB 1249, a bill that allows concealed handguns into sporting events in Arkansas, including college sporting events like football games held at the 72,000-seat Razorback Stadium at the University of Arkansas.
The bill faced strong opposition from Arkansas colleges, campus police and gun safety advocates. Nationwide, polling shows that 95 percent of college presidents and 94 percent of college faculty oppose guns on campus.
STATEMENT FROM AUSTIN BAILEY, VOLUNTEER CHAPTER LEADER WITH THE ARKANSAS CHAPTER OF MOMS DEMAND ACTION FOR GUN SENSE IN AMERICA:
“I am grateful to Commissioner Sankey and the Southeastern Conference for speaking out against guns in stadiums. Allowing guns at college football games and other sporting events puts our athletes, students and fans at unnecessary risk. My heart also aches for the places like daycare centers on campus that don’t have a national stage or prominent lobbyist to help them protect the small children in their care from reckless policies like HB 1249. Our legislators have an opportunity to exempt sporting events and other sensitive spaces from our new, dangerous guns on campus law. Commissioner Sankey is right – we must keep guns out of sporting arenas, but we also need to protect our daycares, classrooms and bars.”
