On Wednesday, Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson signed into law one of the more ill-conceived bills in the recent history of state politics, making it legal for people to carry concealed handguns in government buildings, college campuses, and even some bars. Do you think that rowdy drunk people attending games at the University of Arkansas’ football stadium—a place where blankets and umbrellas are banned—should have guns? If not, you’re up on a whole lot of Arkansas politicians.
Yesterday, the state senate did what it could to mitigate the potentially disastrous effects of the bill, voting to exempt college sports facilities and the university’s medial sciences building from being affected by the bill. State Senator Jim Hendren explained the reasoning behind to exemption to the AP:
“It’s one of those areas where I don’t think the value offsets the risk,” Republican Sen. Jim Hendren, the Senate majority leader, said before the vote. “There’s alcohol, there’s people getting excited and so probably I think most people agree that maybe this is one of those areas we ought to think about before we expand the privileges.”
The bill will now be sent back to the state House of Representatives for another vote, where it may be necessary for representatives to use finger puppets and monosyllabic words to explain why guns and SEC football don’t mix.