Arkansas Constitution guarantees ‘constitutional carry’ of guns

Gun rights advocate Jan Morgan speaks during a TEA Party of Union County Make America Great Again rally on the county square.
Gun rights advocate Jan Morgan speaks during a TEA Party of Union County Make America Great Again rally on the county square.

Residents in the state of Arkansas have the constitutional right to carry guns and “don’t need a license to carry (a firearm) open or concealed,” Jan Morgan of Hot Springs, said during a Make America Great Again rally on the Union County Courthouse square in downtown El Dorado Monday afternoon. Several people attending the rally had their handguns visible in holsters.

Often referred to as the first lady of the Second Amendment, Morgan is a nationally recognized Second Amendment advocate/speaker, National Rifle Association certified firearms instructor, NRA certified range safety officer, State Police certified concealed carry instructor, founder of

Armed American Woman, (a national firearms training program for women) and owner of The Gun Cave Indoor Firing Range in Hot Springs.

About 75 people gathered in downtown El Dorado on Labor Day for the rally hosted by the Union County TEA Party Patriots, set to begin at 4 p.m. The first two scheduled speakers, state Sen. Trent Garner, R-El Dorado, and Salvation Army Lt. Charles Smith, were unable to attend Monday’s rally and Morgan, who rode her motorcycle to El Dorado, said she ran through rain and arrived on the square at 4:45 p.m. Her husband arrived on his motorcycle about 10 minutes later.

“The news is depressing with constant attacks on the president,” Morgan said. She can be seen weekly on Fox News/Fox Business Network as an analyst on gun rights issues, according to her website. “When liberals are having a meltdown, we are doing something right. Trump is under constant fire and the news media is awful. Our president needs our support. Trump’s people need us to continue to fight. He’s trying to push forward with a conservative agenda and he knows how to win, ‘The Art of the Deal’,” she said, referring to a book Trump wrote with journalist Tony Schwartz in 1987.

Morgan said citizens can educate people about gun rights issues and the Second Amendment and in Arkansas, gun rights issues are in Article Two of the Constitution, Act 746.

Stating she is an advocate of state’s rights, Morgan said when the federal government “feeds you, gives you a paycheck – gives you everything – the government can also take everything away,” such as our Second Amendment right “of the people to keep and bear arms,” a right that “shall not be infringed,” the amendment reads.

Morgan said citizens can help Make America Great Again, by vetting persons running for local, state and federal offices and voting for candidates that resolve to allow no compromises on the Second Amendment.

The right to keep and bear arms “is not a privilege, of the people, but a right of the people,” Morgan said during the rally. She recently visited with Gov. Asa Hutchinson after the governor had said the right to keep and bear arms is a privilege, she said.

“Rights and privileges are not the same. A privilege is something an entity can give you and can take back. In America, we are born with rights. The Second Amendment is not permission from the government to carry a gun, it’s a directive to the government not to infringe on our rights,” Morgan said. “We are starting a peaceful revolution to take back the power from the federal government and give it back to the people.”

Morgan said licenses to carry concealed handguns in Arkansas, generates approximately $4 million annually for the Arkansas State Police. “The state is charging you for something you already have,” she said.

The Second Amendment advocate also encouraged citizens to educate children about our forefathers who “went through hell and back,” to protect our freedoms, including the right to keep and bear arms. “When you think it’s overwhelming and America is lost, reread the story of our founding fathers” and the struggles they endured to protect our freedoms. “They never gave up. Some things are worth dying for,” she said.

“Please don’t give up” efforts to Make America Great Again, Morgan urged the crowd and said, “When you are watching TV and when you have had it and it looks like the president is going under, remember the president is a real guy and he’s listening to the people.”

John Wilson, president of the TEA Party Patriots of Union County, who organized the rally, said the official motto of the TEA Party, which was read during the rally by Jan Watkins, is 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins and heal their land.”

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