Charlie Collins (born November 30, 1962) is a businessman and Republican politician in Arkansas. Collins served four terms in the

Arkansas House of Representatives The Arkansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Arkansas. The House has 100 members elected from an equal number of constituencies across the state. Each distr ...

for District 84, which encompasses part of Washington County near Fayetteville. In 2014, Collins briefly sought the Republican nomination for

Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas The lieutenant governor of Arkansas is the second-highest constitutional and elected office in the U.S. state of Arkansas. The lieutenant governor is the first in the Gubernatorial lines of succession in the United States#Arkansas, gubernatorial ...

. Following reelection in 2016, Collins sponsored legislation to allow anyone over age 21 to carry guns on college campuses and other public places. Controversial among the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

community within District 84, Collins lost his reelection bid in 2018.

Biography

Early life

He graduated from Franklin High School in

Livonia Livonia, known in earlier records as Livland, is a historical region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the Livonians, who lived on the shores of present-day Latvia. By the end of the 13th century, the name was extende ...

, Michigan. He graduated in 1985 from the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as United States Secre ...

Annapolis Annapolis ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...

, Maryland. He received a master's degree in 1986 in quantitative economics from

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

in Washington, D.C.

Career

He started his career at

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/con ...

in 1990 as a brand manager in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, Ohio. He came to Arkansas in 1996. He later worked for

Eastman Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...

as vice president of sales, as team leader at

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

and

Sam's Club Sam's West, Inc. (doing business as Sam's Club) is a chain of membership-only warehouse club retail stores in the United States owned by Walmart. It was founded in 1983 and named after Walmart founder Sam Walton as Sam's Wholesale Club. , Sam's ...

, and as vice president of the H. J. Heinz Company in Arkansas. In 2005, he joined Crown Partners Executive Search, LLC, a recruiting and consulting firm.

State representative

He has served as a state representative for District 84 since 2011 and he was re-elected in 2012 and 2014.Arkansas House of Representatives biography
Sarah Villegas
Charlie Collins Wins Re-election
'' The Arkansas Traveler'', November 7, 2012 The position was formerly District 89 and held by a Democrat Jim House, who Collins defeated in 2010. During his first term, he was a member of the House Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development Committee, the House Revenue and Taxation Committee, and the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee, where he was vice chair of the Subcommittee on Educational Institutions. In his second term, he is a member of the Legislative Joint Audit Committee, Insurance and Commerce Committee, and Chairman of the House Revenue and Taxation Committee. He has also proposed a bill to reduce the

state income tax In addition to Federal government of the United States, federal Income tax in the United States, income tax collected by the United States, most individual U.S. states collect a state income tax. Some local governments also impose an income tax, ...

Act 562 of 2017

In the 92nd Arkansas General Assembly, Collins sponsored a bill to allow faculty at public universities (including the

within District 84) to use

concealed carry Concealed carry, or carrying a concealed weapon (CCW), is the practice of carrying a weapon (usually a sidearm such as a handgun), either in proximity to or on one's person or in public places in a manner that hides or conceals the weapon's pre ...

handguns on campus as long as they have a

Firearms license A firearms license (also known as a gun license; or licence in British English) is a license or permit issued by a government authority (typically by the police) of a jurisdiction, that allows the licensee to buy, own, possess, or carry a f ...

. The bill caused major debates on the state's open carry law and the

Second Amendment The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

. Every public college opposed the bill, including UA Chancellor Joseph E. Steinmetz. Gun advocates in the

Arkansas General Assembly The General Assembly of Arkansas is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The legislature is a bicameral body composed of the upper house Arkansas Senate with 35 members, and the lower Arkansas House of Representatives with 1 ...

succeeded in expanding Collins' initial proposal to almost all public places, including the courthouses, bars, churches, and sporting events. The expanded measure ultimately became law as Act 562 of 2017, with exemptions for sporting events, the state hospital, and the

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) is a Public university, public medical school in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is part of the University of Arkansas System and consists of six colleges, seven institutes, several research cente ...

(UAMS). Collins was unseated in his bid for a fifth legislative term in the general election held on November 6, 2018. Democrat Denise Garner outpolled Collins by 1,440 votes, 7,456 (55.3 percent) to 6,016 (44.7 percent).

Personal life

He is married to Leeann Collins, and they have two sons and two daughters. They live in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He is a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Charlie 1962 births Living people People from Livonia, Michigan Politicians from Cincinnati Politicians from Fayetteville, Arkansas Businesspeople from Arkansas United States Naval Academy alumni George Washington University alumni Republican Party members of the Arkansas House of Representatives 21st-century members of the Arkansas General Assembly