HB1623 The completely watered down, Concealed Carry Privacy bill passed the Senate today on a 34-0 vote.

This from Today's THV, "The Arkansas Senate has approved a bill that would allow the state to release the names and ZIP codes of residents licensed to carry concealed handguns.

Senators voted 34-0 Monday to pass the bill by Rep. Randy Stewart of Kirby. That comes after the bill was amended from an original proposal that would have made the entire list of concealed-carry permits secret.

The measure will return to the House for lawmakers to consider the changes.

Stewart has said he proposed the bill after the Arkansas Times newspaper in Little Rock posted a link to an Arkansas State Police database of concealed-carry permit holders. The list had been releasable under the state's Freedom of Information Act."

What they don't tell you that it was hijacked by members of the committee because of the Governor's arm twisting to make the bill essentially useless.

They added an amendment to the bill that effectively gutted it of most of the provisions that were put in the bill to protect the privacy of permit holders in the first place, they added "zip codes" to the list of exemptions.

The press will still be able to publish the list of names, with zip codes which will still enable them and others to distinguish you from others who may have similar names. So the one thing this bill sought out to do, it won't thanks to Governor Beebe, the Press Association, the Managing Editor of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette and the Publisher of the Arkansas Times (the paper who allowed this travesty to occur in the first place).

It's interesting that Governor Beebe would not support permit holders 4th Amendment right to privacy because he does support a move to exempt information about state executions to remain private under FOIA law.

What is the Governor saying to permit holders here, that the most law abiding segment of society should have less rights than those of convicted felons in the state of Arkansas?

I don't think this is right.   

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

Call and complain.

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