Flash from David Goins at Fox 16:

The University of Arkansas Board of Trustees voted to opt out of Republican Rep. Charlie Collins' new law to allow college and university staff to carry concealed weapons on campus. The vote was unanimous and applies to all 11 UA campuses. Evie Blad of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette tweeted that campus leaders at the meeting applauded the vote.

Awaiting word on Arkansas State University Board today on same issue.

UPDATE: The ASU Board also voted unanimously against guns on its four campuses.

The line is open. Finishing up:

• NO GUNS: Dr. Donald Bobbitt's recommendation for UA System.

* THINGS ARE HUMMING IN OTTER CREEK: One of those periodic urban retail myths — Costco was looking at a location in Otter Creek — passed over my desk and that reminded me I'd been meaning to check in with Tommy Hodges of Otter Creek Land Co. on the Bass Pro Shops development at the I-30/430 interchange. No, Costco isn't coming. But construction on the Bass Pro Shops outlet is moving along and the store should open, complete with four-acre fishing lake, by October or November, Hodges said. First Security Bank will have a new branch on an outparcel about that time, too. A restaurant may also be among the first new developments. A year later, Hodges said he hopes to have open a high-end outlet mall, with complementing hotel and restaurants. He said a glitzy lineup of tenants has been assembled, but he's not ready to release it yet. The opening of the Bass Pro, with its expected big traffic, should firm up commitments from many businesses, including some retail operations with plans for freestanding businesses.

* VOTE BUYING SENTENCE: Sam Malone, a former West Memphis police officer, was sentenced to 7.2 months of house arrest and additional probation in federal court today for his role in an illegal scheme to elect Hudson Hallum, a Democrat, to a seat in the state House, the U.S. attorney's office said. He, Hallum, Hallum's father and Philip Carter, a West Memphis council member, have pleaded guilty in a scheme that included influencing votes with vodka and chicken dinners. The others haven't been sentenced. Carter will be in court tomorrow; Hallum on June 20.

Count me unsurprised that enhanced legal protection for opening fire on people results in more gun deaths.

But if you can't believe researchers from Texas A&M, who can you believe? From the Law Blog:

In a new study, an economics professor and a PhD student at Texas A&M University take a broader look at the laws’ effect. The authors, Professor Mark Hoekstra and Cheng Cheng, use state-level crime data from 2000 to 2009 to determine whether the laws deter crime.

The answer, they conclude, is no. In fact, the evidence suggests the laws have led to an increase in homicides.

From the study:

Results indicate that the prospect of facing additional self-defense does not deter crime. Specifically, we find no evidence of deterrence effects on burglary, robbery, or aggravated assault. Moreover, our estimates are sufficiently precise as to rule out meaningful deterrence effects.

In contrast, we find significant evidence that the laws increase homicides. Suggestive but inconclusive evidence indicates that castle doctrine laws increase the narrowly defined category of justifiable homicides by private citizens by 17 to 50 percent, which translates into as many as 50 additional justifiable homicides per year nationally due to castle doctrine. More significantly, we find the laws increase murder and manslaughter by a statistically significant 7 to 9 percent, which translates into an additional 500 to 700 homicides per year nationally across the states that adopted castle doctrine.

Thus, by lowering the expected costs associated with using lethal force, castle doctrine laws induce more of it. This increase in homicides could be due either to the increased use of lethal force in self-defense situations, or to the escalation of violence in otherwise non-lethal conflicts. We suspect that self-defense situations are unlikely to explain all of the increase, as we also find that murder alone is increased by a statistically significant 6 to 11 percent.

The gun lobby will shortly inform us 1) that the study is all wrong and 2) what's wrong with more "justifiable" homicides anyway? These have included people gunning down petty thieves who posed no physical threat to the shooter, but if you can't shoot someone for breaking into your car, what's a gun for?

From Texas, another accidental death (link corrected) of a child from a handgun in a house.

• REP. BOB BALLINGER: He sees obscure law as a blow for freedom to carry a gun, openly or otherwise.

Did a little ol' bill generally assumed to be a technical correction aimed at allowing people to carry handguns on a "journey" without fear of arrest actually deregulate the carrying of handguns entirely? That's the gun nut argument, though it's contested by many, even pro-gun lawyers of the Republican variety such as Rep. Matthew Shepherd of El Dorado. He says deregulation wasn't the intent of the minor corrective. But a court interprets intent only from the plain language of a law and this is a sloppily drafted piece of dreck from Rep. Denny Altes that got the same consideration most gun legislation got this session — it was whooped through. (Note, too, that the bill lifted the prohibition on toting guns into taverns and any other place alcohol is sold.)

It's going to take a court test to clear up, no doubt about that. Who'll be the showcase arrest? Maybe Rep. Nate Bell would volunteer.

Here's the thing. It seems to me if the nutters' argument is right, it's the end of regulation of handguns carried both openly and in concealment. For legal authority, who better than Rep. Bullet Bob Ballinger, a putative lawyer, who had hoped to declare Arkansas immune to federal law when it came to guns, a rare gun defeat in the Fetuses and Firearms and Federally Finance Obamacare Session.

“If it’s given its plain meaning, then it essentially says unless you’re carrying with intent to commit a crime, that you can lawfully carry a handgun,” said Ballinger, a lawyer.

A Facebook comment from someone else who identifies himself as a lawyer:

"I am an attorney and I, as well as many other attorneys, think the new law allows for 'open carry' meaning carrying a handgun openly on your belt anywhere not otherwise prohibited. I believe the new law makes conceal carry laws obsolete. After July 1, any non-prohibited person can carry a handgun, knife, or club on their person or in their vehicle as long as they do not have the intent to attempt to use the weapon unlawfully against a person. The law does not distinguish between open or concealed carry. The new law deletes the section prohibiting carrying a weapon into an establishment that serves alcohol."

• EQUALIZER: A Marlin 30-30 like this made all the difference for 12-year-old Nate Bell.

That early spring morning, I learned that having a firearm at the ready could give a terrified little boy the ability to successfully defend his mother and siblings from the evil intentions of a criminal. No one was harmed, no shots were fired, and what could have become a horrific crime scene instead remained the home of our unharmed family.

Physically, I was no match for the grown man attached to those large hands on the bathroom window sill. Powder, lead, walnut, brass and steel made an adult criminal flee from a 12 year old boy.

I know firsthand that firearms in the hands of responsible individuals prevent crimes and save lives. As a citizen and elected official, I am 100% committed and dedicated to protecting and preserving the right of EVERY American to defend himself, herself, or loved ones from those who intend to commit evil.

Now that the Arkansas legislature has opened the sanctuary doors to guns in churches — if the churches choose — decisions are being made.

John Lyon at Stephens Media updates the situation and the story includes a couple of points worth highlighting:

* NO GUNS, BUT SOME SWORDS: This from the Catholic bishop in Arkansas:

Catholic churches, however, have been instructed not to allow concealed handguns. After the law was enacted in February, the Diocese of Little Rock sent a directive to pastors stating, “Bishop (Anthony) Taylor has stated that all weapons, whether concealed or unconcealed, are prohibited on the premises of all Catholic churches in our diocese. The only exceptions are law enforcement officers in the exercise of their duties and ceremonial blunt swords used by the Knights of Columbus.”

* PICKING AND CHOOSING: Several pastors seemed to favor a policy that would allow some, but not all, to carry guns. For example, Rev. Schanon Caudle, pastor of North Park Baptist Church in Van Buren.

Caudle said he has not declared a policy for the church, but he would not object to allowing certain church members to carry concealed weapons in church, if they request permission and can give a good explanation for their request.

“I don’t think it ought to be a blanket invitation for everybody to carry one,” he said. “I think it would hurt your witness in the community, if you found out that was a church where everybody was carrying a weapon.”

Where are the 2nd Amendment purists now? A church may decide who may and who may not carry weapons? What part of "shall not be infringed" don't these liberals understand?

The University of Central Arkansas Board of Trustees voted this morning to opt out of the new state law that allows concealed guns to be carried on campus. The law, by Republican Rep. Charlie Collins, passed with the provision that governing bodies could choose to continue no-gun policies.

The Conway Log Cabin Democrat reports.

UPDATE: A friend e-mails me to say that the Hendrix College Trustees took a similar vote today.

The University of Arkansas Board of Trustees is expected to take up the issue May 23, a spokesman said.

Good to be associated with the extremists of the NRA?

In Arkansas Republican circles, the answer is a big ja wohl!

Republican gubernatorial candidate Asa Hutchinson is front and center in a lineup of speakers today at the NRA "leadership forum" in Houston that only an assault rifle-packing extremist could give unconditional love.

The NRA convention is expected to draw 70,000 for a celebration of the gun lobby's recent defeat of modest gun legislation. There'll surely be plenty of sneers for the call from Gabby Gifford's husband for moderation in NRA leadership.

Didn't Asa proclaim his independence the other day in releasing the NRA-commissioned study calling for putting more guns in school to combat the ill effects of guns in school?

How nutty is this assembly going to be? Check this out.

From Kentucky comes the story of a two-year-old killed accidentally by a rifle fired by her five-year-old brother. He had received the rifle as a gift LAST YEAR.

• LAUGH'S ON PRYOR: On Letterman show.

Hey, Alan, what time is it?

ALAN: “It’s time for ‘Stooge of the Night!’ Tonight’s stooge of the night is Democratic Senator Mark Pryor of Arkansas.”
We stay on a photo of Senator Mark Pryor.

DAVE: “Senator Mark Pryor voted ‘NO’ on gun reform legislation even though as a state legislator in Arkansas he authored four gun control bills that included background checks.

‘Hi, please call me ‘Mark.’ What can I do to put you in a LeSabre?’

It’s Mark Pryor, and he is our Stooge of the Night.

So what do you think? The conventional wisdom in the Arkansas legislature and among the gun nut class is that you may not support a single measure, no matter how innocuous, that might require even a bit of paperwork from a gun lover. So wouldn't it be solid gold for Mark Pryor to vote down the line with the NRA? Or what if the polls are right? That a solid majority favor universal background checks? That Mark Pryor's position is a discentive for voters? (Forgetting, of course, that the only other likely viable candidate is even nuttier on guns.) That being labeled a "stooge" on a leading national TV show is not a good thing? Tom Cotton would proudly claim the label, presumably.

And speaking of guns, this was a bangup segment on the subject on the Daily Show, about how conservative politicians in wild and woolly Australia passed tough gun control legislation following a massacre and lived politically to talk about it.