Gun-toting lawyer sues Little Rock after he’s barred from City Hall

A Conway lawyer who said he was refused entry to Little Rock City Hall on Sunday with his gun, despite a new law intended to allow enhanced concealed-carry permit holders like himself to take firearms into municipal buildings, is suing the city, complaining that Little Rock is “driven by a leftist political agenda” and “believes that it is above the law.”

Attorney Chris Corbitt is calling on Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chip Welch to declare the city’s position unconstitutional and rule that Little Rock — in the persons of City Manager Bruce Moore and Mayor Frank Scott Jr. — has violated his civil rights, plus require the city to pay his legal costs to bring the lawsuit, which was filed Monday.

Act 1024 went into effect at the first of the month. Enacted by the General Assembly in April, the law is intended to open municipal buildings, with some exemptions, to enhanced-carry licensees.

Corbitt, with co-counsel Robert Steinbuch, a University of Arkansas law professor, says City Attorney Tom Carpenter stated in July that Little Rock would likely not obey the law because Act 1024 is unconstitutional and can’t be enforced.

“My advice is that the city ignore it, let the state sue us, and then let the state have the burden of proving that the statute is constitutional,” Carpenter wrote in July correspondence with Steinbuch, according to the lawsuit.

Carpenter’s position is a “partisan fantasy” tantamount to declaring that Little Rock can exempt itself from federal statutes and state law such as the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, the eight-page suit states.

Arkansas has two levels of concealed-carry license, based on training and live-fire testing, with enhanced licensees allowed to carry a concealed firearm in more locations, including the State Capitol grounds and building, General Assembly meetings, state offices, churches and public universities.