It was a good week for …
THE USE OF SCHOOL GUN SCANS. A random scan of students at Hall High School found a male student had an unloaded gun in his hoodie and a magazine with six bullets tucked into his gym shorts pocket. He was turned over to juvenile authorities and will be expelled.
GRANDSTANDING BY THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR. The minute Gov. Mike Beebe boarded a plane for Washington, D.C., Friday, Lt. Gov. Mark Darr called a press conference and signed a bill that exempts the names of concealed gun carry holders from the state Freedom of Information Act. Beebe had decided to let the bill become law without his signature, but the former pizza palace owner wanted his slice of the limelight.
MIKE BEEBE AND ASA HUTCHINSON. A Talk Business survey found that 68 percent of Arkansans polled favored the job the governor is doing and 43 percent would vote for Hutchinson versus 38 percent for Mike Ross and 19 percent not knowing.
THOSE WHO DON’T BELIEVE GUNS SOLVE ALL THE WORLD’S PROBLEMS. A bridge too far, or just a bump in the road on the way to passage? It wasn’t clear on Tuesday when Rep. Sue Scott’s measure to allow the open carry of handguns in the state failed in the House Judiciary Committee, despite an amendment from Rep. Nate Bell and Rep. Jeremy Gillam to limit the provision to unincorporated areas. On a roll-call vote, the bill received nine votes. It needs 11 to advance out of committee. Bell said the bill would come up again in committee.
It was a bad week for …
WOMEN’S REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS AND COMMON SENSE. The legislature blithely approved Rep. Andy Mayberry’s bill to prohibit abortion after 20 weeks, a month shy of viability, even if the fetus won’t survive birth, and a bill that would allow a pregnant woman to use deadly force against anyone she “reasonably” believed was threatening the life of her fetus, no questions asked. The governor vetoed the 20-week ban, but with only a simple majority needed to override a veto, it’ll almost certainly become law (until a judge files an injunction to halt it). Also filed: a bill to define fertilized eggs as human beings.
RESPONDING TO A CRAIGSLIST ADVERTISEMENT. An Oklahoma couple were robbed at gunpoint in North Little Rock when they went to an address on Graham Avenue to buy a Mercedes C/X 320 they found on Craigslist.