HB1623 The Concealed Carry Privacy bill had a partial hearing today. If you followed us on Twitter you know that the hearing abruptly ended because the full Senate was about to convene. The bill will be reconsidered Tuesday the 31st.

We feel good about the bill in the committee but David Bailey, Managing Editor of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette and member of the Arkansas Press Association (APA) wasted no time in hyping the supposed "dangers" of the bill. I guess he doesn't consider violating the privacy of an undercover police officer "dangerous."He mostly brought up issues centered around people who applied for CHL's in our state and been denied a permit. Which actually makes our case for us that, the system works.

They claim that they should have access to the information as a matter of a check against the government. But then we distributed the original blog post that Max wrote which contained the permit list and it pretty much dashed the idea that it was done in an ethical, journalistic manner. When committee members saw the blog posting, their reaction seemed to be one of amazement.

The latest development is that Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe finally picked a side, I am sad to say that it was not the side of law abiding gun owners.

This from Today's THV, "Gov. Mike Beebe says he prefers to keep the list of Arkansans licensed to carry concealed handguns public, but he stopped short of saying he'd veto a bill to make that information secret.

Speaking to reporters Thursday, Beebe said that he prefers to keep the list open under the state's Freedom of Information Act. Beebe would not say he would reject a bill by Rep. Randy Stewart, a Democrat from Kirby, to seal that information from public scrutiny.

The Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee heard some testimony Thursday on Stewart's proposal, but did not take any action. The committee plans to continue a hearing on the bill next week. The bill has already passed the House."

If you remember this bill overwhelmingly passed the House by a vote of 98 to 1. The bill clearly has a mandate from the citizens of this state.

Max Brantley gloats at the Arkansas Times, "Gov. Mike Beebe said recently in an appearance on AETN and said recently in an appearance on AETN and repeated again today that he favors keeping the list of concealed weapon permit holders open to public inspection, as it has been since the law was passed. A bill to close the records, introduced after the Times published the list, has passed the House and got a partial hearing today before a Senate committee, which adjourned before a vote."

Which is funny because today in the hearing David Bailey again made the absurd claim that they (AR Times) didn't actually publish anything.

So here's what we need people to do, we need you to call the Governors office and express regret that the Governor has decided to treat concealed carry permit holders differently than other Arkansans who are licensed by state boards and government agencies under FOIA law. There are currently 18 exemptions to FOIA law, and concealed carry holders shouldn't be held to a different standard than everybody else. We all have a basic right to privacy. Tell him he should support HB1623.

The Governor's office can be reached here, at 501-682-2345.

Email this to your friends, post it on your club websites, forums and businesses. We can't allow the Governor to come in at the last minute and sway votes in the Senate, just to curry favor with the Arkansas press.

If we don't stop this unwarranted invasion of privacy here, newspapers will take the bill's failure as a mandate that they can publish it at will.

They've already proved that are willing to do it.

Hello, Keep and Bear Arms readers!Welcome back! I Hope you'll bookmark us and keep coming back to see what's going on in Arkansas concerning our 2nd Amendment rights.