The Georgia Senate on Friday gave final passage to a bill that for the first time would legalize firearms on all public colleges in Georgia, following an emotional two-hour floor debate over the wisdom of letting students carry concealed guns on campus.
House Bill 859 now goes to the desk of Gov. Nathan Deal, who with a sweep of his pen can sign the measure into law.
The legislation would allow anyone 21 or older with a weapons license to carry a gun anywhere on a public college or university campus, except for inside dormitories, fraternities and sorority houses, and at athletic events.
The Misery
House Bill 859 now goes to the desk of Gov. Nathan Deal, who with a sweep of his pen can sign the measure into law.
The legislation would allow anyone 21 or older with a weapons license to carry a gun anywhere on a public college or university campus, except for inside dormitories, fraternities and sorority houses, and at athletic events.
The Misery
Ugh. It's specifically about concealed-carry, not open. So if this were passed in my state, I wouldn't even know if the students were armed.
ReplyDeleteIf I knew students were carrying, I would be strongly tempted to walk out, saying that my workplace was not safe.
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ReplyDeleteTens of thousands of armed college students living in close proximity and getting drunk. What could go wrong?
ReplyDeleteThe restrictions listed in the last paragraph of the post lead me to not worry about this. Depending on the community you live in, you might be walking around next to people with guns all the time. Students carrying guns on campus would also be carrying them around their apartments. This is normal.
ReplyDeleteMost gun deaths have several common factors: suicide, domestic violence and drinking. None of these are particularly relevant to classrooms so I doubt it would be an issue. If somebody wanted to show up drunk and shoot himself and his girlfriend in class, a rule about not carrying a gun on campus would likely little influence.
Let me rephrase: I would not FEEL safe.
DeleteOne might argue that's not relevant. But consider this: a person's attitude is greatly effected by their armament. The sort of people insecure enough to carry a weapon are likely those who will emotionally overcompensate holding a weapon, and be more belligerent.
Anecdote: I've found after going back and forth across the US border that US border guards are considerably more hostile (on average) than Canadian or UK guards, often living and working just a few miles away. The biggest difference in their workplace is that the US guards are armed.
Lol no. The biggest difference is that the US guards are US guards.
DeleteBrief preface: I'm an American college student. Pacifist. Very pro-liberty, very anti-force, anti-authority.
US law enforcement varies from friendly local cop/sheriff to militarized law enforcement without much in between. You've got local cops and sheriffs who have a policy of almost never pulling out their gun ever and trigger happy cops who pull out their gun and shoot without a moment's thought.
They come from a culture that venerates them and holds them on a pedestal. THAT is what makes them dangerous. They act out because they know they can. The gun is not the issue.
This is actually one of the reasons why I am in favor of gun freedom that you, ironically, brought up. What happens if you have to protect yourself against these murderous law enforcement? That being said, I do not myself own a gun.
And I am 100% against guns being allowed in state buildings, including universities. If a private university wants to allow guns on their campus, I guess we shouldn't stop them. But I wouldn't go there.
Spot on, Beaker. I had a student who carried all the time (was trained with permit). You'd never know. Legal, permitted concealed weapons are not the issue. Psychos with weapons are not too concerned about campus policy, are they? Gun-free zone? Oh, well, I guess I won't shoot up the place since it's a gun-free zone. Seriously?
ReplyDeleteBecause EVERYONE who gets a concealed-carry permit is ever handles a weapon in a dangerous fashion, and all are emotionally stable at all times.
DeleteGo look at the Gun Fail statistics sometime.... the permit doesn't really improve the odds all that much that they don't have an accident.
Period. End of statement. I won't teach anywhere that allows students to carry guns. Have we just fucking given up on everything? Trump, too, right, is that the bonus?
ReplyDeleteYeah... I definitely wouldn't work anywhere that allowed guns on premises.
DeleteHere's what appears to be decent study on crime stats related to concealed carriers:
ReplyDeletehttp://crimeresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/2015-Report-from-the-Crime-Prevention-Research-Center-Final.pdf
To give you a taste, the rate of crime among concealed carry permit holders is 1/7 that of police officers. Sorry, but as a population, I'm not worried about permit holders. Part of the fear I sense from Conan and others comes, perhaps, from not having any experience with guns? I grew up around them, using them, still have a few in the house, although I haven't shot anything in years aside from some really annoying students.
Generally speaking, I support gun control laws and legislation. I wish we could do more to ensure that people are not able to buy a gun if they are mentally ill, for example, or have records of violent crime.
ReplyDeleteBut concealed carry laws just don't bother me. All this new law is saying is that people with concealed carry permits are LEGALLY allowed to carry their concealed weapons into class. So what it means is that the law abiding citizens can now have guns (if they want to carry them) along with the non-law abiding citizens. People who want to take guns into state owned buildings and don't care about the laws do it (unless there is a metal detector or something at every door----can't imagine that happening). Just like two of the heavily publicized mass shootings this past year----at Umpqua and at San Bernadino. I'm not saying that people with concealed weapons would have made a difference----but they could have, in both cases. In any event----the absence of a law allowing a person to carry a gun into either of those places did exactly nothing to prevent the killings.
We have a number of police officers working at my college. I for one HOPE they ignore the law and carry their weapons, because I'd feel safer knowing they could stop a shooter if given the chance. Of course, I'd NEVER ask them if they do, because then I'd be obligated by law to report them.