The author of an extremely broad and extensive Arkansas law banning government mandated face masks is furious GOP Governor Asa Hutchinson is calling the state legislature back into special session to allow schools to require face masks if they determine them necessary. Children under 12 are not yet allowed to be vaccinated and as the delta coronavirus variant spreads children are increasingly at risk.
But try telling that to Arkansas Republican state senator Trent Garner, who is furious his law is under attack.
Garner, who was dubbed “Sen. Trent ‘Death March’ Garner” by the Arkansas Times‘ Max Brantley, wrote his “emergency” law so poorly, so broadly and so extensively it not only bans masks for children in schools but bans any state agency from requiring any face coverings. It prohibits “any required face coverings by any public institution — goggles in chemistry labs; face masks for football players and other athletes, welding masks for those who work for public agencies and who knows what else,” Brantley wrote.
On Thursday Garner lashed out on Twitter, threatening to undermine the special session:
Pinned to the top of his Twitter page is this fallacious attack:
Currently, just 36.2% of all Arkansans have been fully vaccinated. The national average is 49.9%.
CBS affiliate THV11 noted Thursday that “Arkansas is reporting 2,843 new COVID-19 cases, which is the highest daily amount since January 2021.”
Many are furious at Sen. Garner for removing local control and for putting children’s health at risk: