Arkansas Attorney General Opposes Right to Keep and Bear Arms

by Steve D. Jones, Arkansas Carry: In May of this year, gun rights group Arkansas Carry requested an Arkansas Attorney General opinion concerning Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s authority to make firearm laws in Arkansas Game and Fish Wildlife Management Areas. This inquiry was made through the office of State Senator Denny Altes (Fort Smith).

In light of the Arkansas Supreme Court ruling of Arkansas Game and Fish Commission v. Murders (1997), does Amendment 35 of the Arkansas Constitution allow the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission the general power to regulate all “killing devices” in the Ozark National Forest, Buffalo National River and Wildlife Management Areas as they currently do per Arkansas Game and Fish Commission code 20.01?

If the answer to Question 1 is “yes”, would an Arkansas Supreme Court order be needed to keep this from happening again, or would a state constitutional amendment be required?

At first read, this question may seem pointless to some Arkansans. Many factors should be considered, however; Arkansas Wildlife Management Areas have grown and engulfed massive acreage in the state:

• Wildlife Management Areas such as White Rock have been enlarged recently to encompass a great deal of the Ozark National Forest.
• All of the Ozark National Forest, through negotiations with the U.S. Forest Service, is now a Wildlife Management Area.b
• The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has worked in cooperation with the National Park Service to deem the Buffalo National River area a Wildlife Management Area.
• Many WMAs are in the Ouachita National Forest in south Arkansas, and this National Forest is under negotiation to become a WMA in the near future, also.

As reported in previous articles, a large swath of northern Arkansas is now under the jurisdiction of AGFC gun regulations, not Arkansas state code. When traveling, hiking or camping in this vast area, visitors are under a virtual gun ban. Many highways and county roads cross the boundaries of the WMAs. If you carry a loaded long gun in your vehicle for self-protection (legal under Arkansas law), you are in violation of WMA regulations and could face prosecution. Also, open carry is legal in Arkansas while on a journey. While most consider a journey is taking place only while traveling in a vehicle, long hikes, canoe floats and backpacking could also be placed in the open carry category. But open carry becomes illegal when a person is within the boundaries of a WMA. Attorney General Dustin McDaniel’s opinion (which was issued today) now strengthens the AGFC’s power over the Second Amendment in a large part of Arkansas. At any time, the AGFC can even choose to ban concealed carry and the legislature of Arkansas can do little about it, barring a state constitutional amendment.

The Commission has a wide discretion within which it may determine what the public interest demands, and what measures are necessary to secure and promote such requirements. The only limitation upon this power to formulate these rules and regulations, which tend to promote the protection and conservation of the wild life resources of the state, and which tend to promote the health, peace, morals, education, good order and welfare of the public is that the rules and regulations must reasonably tend to correct some evil, and promote some interest of the commonwealth, not violative of any direct or positive mandate of the constitution.

Please read the previous quote carefully, and attempt to imagine the possibilities for corruption and misuse of our lands. The opinion issued today is not only a fight for Second Amendment rights in Arkansas, it is a fight against a monster we have created, one without any of the checks and balances our great nation was founded upon. A constitutional amendment IS needed in this state, one which narrows the scope of the Arkansas Game and Fish commission’s power to encompass only game management and proper land use, not the way we should be living our lives when using our state’s lands.

Related articles:
Open carry now legal in Buffalo River National Park?
Message to tourists with guns; don't come to Arkansas
Gun ban at Buffalo River National Park in Arkansas
Chicago-style gun ban in Ozark National Forest
Arkansas Game and Fish vs. Murders

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