House committee approves liability protections to encourage landowners to host youth shooting sports

The House Judiciary Committee voted to do pass as amended on House Bill 1107, a measure intended to encourage private landowners to open property for youth shooting-sports programs by limiting certain liability claims. Representative Chad Puryear presented the bill and said the amendment added specific references to nonprofit organizations including the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and Arkansas 4‑H.

Puryear said the bill was revised after committee feedback to define shooting sports, limit the focus to nonprofit organizations and tailor protections for youth programming. "This amendment specifically names both the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and the Arkansas 4‑H and adds the clarifying language that helps address the concerns we discussed previously," Puryear told the committee.

Spencer Griffith, deputy director of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and Jesse Bocknick, outdoor skills instructor with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture who runs the 4‑H shooting-sports program, sat at the table to answer program‑specific questions. Griffith described the commission's role overseeing recreational shooting-sports licensing, education and programming; Bocknick said the 4‑H program runs outdoor skills and shooting-sports instruction for youth.

The amendment's sponsor and the invited agency representatives said the bill's objective is to expand opportunities for youth shooting sports by giving property owners "peace of mind" through limited liability protection so landowners will permit ranges and events on private property. One person signed up to speak in favor but did not speak; no speakers opposed the bill in the transcript.

Representative Puryear closed and the committee voted to adopt the second amendment by voice vote and then to do pass the bill as amended; the transcript records committee members saying "Aye" and "The ayes have it."