LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — On Wednesday, a committee of state lawmakers drafted a 51-page proposal to loosen gun restrictions in Arkansas.
This proposed bill may not be new for Arkansas lawmakers, as many new gun laws took effect last August.
Right now, legislators of the Game and Fish/ Police subcommittee are discussing clarifying where and when people can carry a firearm.
The proposed bill contains several recommendations legislators say stem from a study of the state's current gun laws.
One of the most alarming is a change that could allow licensed gun owners to carry firearms at school bus stops, a place they're prohibited.
Those talks have Anna Morshedi, a mother of two and the leader of the Little Rock chapter of Moms Demand Action, concerned.
"I would like legislators to think about right now in Arkansas, the leading cause of death for children and teens are guns," Morshedi said. "That is a very painful fact."
Morshedi said the bottom line is guns do not belong at school bus stops and around school-aged children, and their organization "is oppose anything that expands and furthers gun closer to children."
Everytown for Gun Safety, an advocate for gun control, said Arkansas has the weakest gun laws in the country.
Statistics like that are why Morshedi continues to fight against bills like the one lawmakers are discussing.
"We want to make sure that lawmakers are thinking very carefully about the ramifications of these laws and that there is so much common ground that we have around keeping our children safe," Morshedi said. "I believe there is a way to move forward that we can really focus on safety."
The proposals presented on Sept. 4 came from legislative researchers.
Lawmakers will begin crafting and drafting their proposals, which they will discuss at their next meeting on Sept. 16.
Bills that survive that process could come up when the next general assembly meets in January.