By James England via concealednation.org
Georgia lawmakers have successfully passed legislation through both the House and Senate that would enable concealed carry on the state’s campuses. The new bill, passed on Friday 37 to 17, still needs to be signed by Governor Nathan Deal before it becomes law. According to this bill, concealed carriers would not be allowed to carry in athletic facilities, or inside student dormitories (including fraternity and sorority houses). The bill would only apply to public universities and college campuses and would not extend to private universities which would retain the right to set their own policies concerning concealed carry on campus . . .
According to ABC News, the bill will hit Governor Deal’s desk shortly.
Excerpt from HB 859
“(A) Any license holder when he or she is in any building or on real property owned by or leased to any public technical school, vocational school, college, or university, or other public institution of postsecondary education; provided, however,that such exception shall:
(i) Not apply to buildings or property used for athletic sporting events or student housing, including, but not limited to, fraternity and sorority houses;
(ii) Only apply to the carrying of handguns which a licensee is licensed to carry pursuant to subsection (h) of Code Section 16-11-126 and pursuant to Code Section16-11-129; and
(iii) Only apply to the carrying of handguns which are concealed.”
The bill is being lauded by proponents as a great step in the right direction.
Previous fights over concealed carry in the Peach State have had mixed results, with a recent open carry debates veering off into “they’ll be shooting people in the streets at high noon” territory by those who wish to limit gun rights. As with the open carry debate as well as the concealed carry on campus, there are no studies nor evidence to back such claims. If anything, those attending public universities in Georgia will have just one more legal avenue to pursue their own self-defense while pursuing higher education.
Somewhere Robert Eager has a big smile on his face. Congrats to him and every one in GA that has been moving this ball forward over time.
Next up…Constitutional Carry?
Georgia Carry…how about it?
So I guess now we get to watch the same hyperventilating harpies blather about “safe spaces” that we did in Texas, eh? I wonder how many GA professors and faculty will resign over this, or flat-out refuse to comply? I’m willing to bet the rules Georgia universities will put in place to “accomodate” the new law will be something like “You may carry a weapon on campus if you have a carry permit. But not in classrooms. Or dormitories. Or athletic buildings/grounds. Or the cafeterias. Or the administrative buildings. And you may not leave your weapon in your car if it’s parked in the campus lot.”
Yeah, you’re probably right. Seems to be part of the process. Another brick in the wall, though. Georgia Carry and the good folks here fighting the gun rights battle in Georgia will eventually beat them down.
We’ve definitely got the antis on the run here in the Peach state.
That is not going to be a problem, unlike Texas, there is no provision in the bill for tampering by College/School administrators. Deal will sign it as he signed the previous bill that was not as well written. The Georgia AG turned around and gutted that bill last year after it was passed and signed. The lesson was learned and the AG and College Administrators were given no leeway to interpret the new bill.
We are already seeing the hysterics from the anti-gun zealots on this one. Fortunately, students with a GWCL can keep a gun in their car on campus under current law, although there are some campuses that think they can prohibit it (they can’t). This new law will require lazy concealed carry as a minimum, but that is a vast improvement over no legal carry. It is unfortunate that those living in student housing won’t be able to keep their guns in their rooms, but it was a necessary provision to get it past the RINOs, and the number of 21-year-old GWCL-holders living on campus will be small.
“…concealed carriers would not be allowed to carry in athletic facilities, or inside student dormitories ”
I love how arbitrary these carve-outs are. You are OK to carry a firearm, hidden of course, over there but not over here because it is just too dangerous to have you carrying a firearm around like that, you might hurt someone.
The carve outs are attempting to remove the scary objects from avenues where fights occur, predominantly at the stadium and fraternity houses.
While simultaneously eliminating the right to carry for anyone living in on-campus housing.
No big difference though I suppose, since most college town landlords (even here in gun friendly WV) have stipulations in their leases prohibiting any lessee (student or otherwise) from even keeping a firearm in their apartment. The one i had in Morgantown even prohibited paintball and BB guns.
Interesting. When I attended Va. Tech 1964-69, one of the guys in my dorm had a M2 carbine (select-fire M1 carbine) hung on his wall, in the dorm, where it was visible when you walked down the hall. No AC equates to doors normally open. You know, a no-shit machine gun. For some of the time, I had a .22 semiauto rifle in the dorm, later a .357 mag in an apartment. I do not recall anyone even mentioning any rules against firearms, or concerning them at all. When did this shit start?
The hyperventilating has already started. People always think of campus carry in terms of students, they need to be thinking of it as contractors who work on campus, and there are a LOT.
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/protester-arrested-at-georgia-capitol-over-campus-/nqh93/
They also forget about all the regular citizens who traverse GA campuses everyday. In a place like Athens, where UGA is located, you can’t go downtown (or many other parts of the city) without technically being on campus. And since UGA produces anywhere from 25-30% of the jobs and owns 50-60% of the property in the county, it’s a behemoth that can finally no longer restrict ordinary citizens from protecting themselves when they happen to set foot on university property.
I just don’t care, anymore.
Let ’em all remain vulnerable to slaughter by psychos and robbery by thuggery. Let the women they love traverse the gun-free/free-rape zones they call college campuses.
If that’s how they want to live (and die), then that’s their decision. There’s no education in the second kick of a mule. You either get it the first time, or you never will. You can’t fix stupid and you can’t persuade deluded.
We’ve argued over this crap for years. The evidence in favor of armed resistance is irrefutable, yet they deny it. If they want to live in fantasy land, then they will forever.
I’m just so F’ing tired of fighting and arguing. America is ungovernable today. It’s too diverse to survive without the rule of law. It’s become tribal, where elections aren’t about picking the most qualified person to fill the potholes. Instead, it’s about getting enough of your cohorts together to seize control of the levers of power for a cycle or two, so you can extract unjust enrichment and impose your will on your neighbors.
America must be disaggregated, legally and peacefully, into more suitable and sustainable nations. I figure there are about five nations within this one, each struggling for supremacy or liberty over/from the others.
You, sir, have hit the nail on the head. I would prefer a peaceful disassembly to anything resembling Yugoslavia, but am not sure that we’ll get a say in that.
Any indications or guesses as to whether the Governor will sign it?
I’d say a very good chance he signs this, he has expressed his support in the past but we all know how that works.
My wife and I both attended a public university here in Georgia and I imagine the local thugs that use our sprawling campuses as their hunting grounds will soon run into the wrong student.
I consistently see it in our local news as well as from non-Georgia firearms authors and bloggers, so I’ll be clear. With the exception of this campus carry bill, Georgia law does not distinguish between open/concealed carry. That’s why we have a “Georgia Weapons Carry Permit” and *not* a “Concealed Carry License”. If you are licensed, you may carry openly or concealed anywhere you may legally carry. Your choice. If you are not licensed, you may not carry a handgun [period] but may openly carry a rifle.
There is “Constitutional Carry” legislation in the works – HB 543 – but it’s poorly written and not supported by Georgia Carry. [org]
http://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/en-US/Display/20152016/HB/543
Now if common sense would just move south to Florida I would be much happier.
IMO, college students should be entitled to carry something other than $200,000 in student loan debt.
Good for GA.
Yay! Now the three guys at GA Tech with carry permits can legally do so. Except the one that lives on campus can’t bring it into his dorm, or when walking home at night from the coliseum after the basketball game.
If anything good comes from this it is that muggers have been warned. That’s it. There are no guns on campus. Well, no more than there ever was. Sorry for the skepticism guys. I just see this as a symbolic move like the Kennesaw city ordinance requiring guns in every household. It’s meant as a scare tactic for would be criminals. Hope it works but it is not bringing us much closer to pure 2A freedom.
Cheer up a bit. I assure you it’s more than three guys (and gals). I attend a different school (more than three WCL holders there too) but spend a LOT of time in and around Atlanta with family. You’ve got more friends than you might think.
Tom
Forgive me for being underwhelmed. I’ll never know for sure how many students with a WCL are on any given campus.
I just think going by the national figure that 5% of the population have permits and 6% of Georgians do. Then figure in the percentage of underage population on campus and what we have is a law that affects 2-3% tops?
Don’t get me wrong. This is good news. But let’s keep it in perspective in comparison to 2A freedom in general.
Wake me up when we have Constitutional carry or the age is 18.
Now I care!
“As a lifetime defender and staunch supporter of Second Amendment rights, Gov. Deal has signed every pro-gun bill to reach his desk. However, he believes legitimate points have been made in regards to certain aspects of the ‘campus carry’ bill and he calls on the General Assembly to address these concerns in related legislation before Sine Die. Specifically, these areas of concern include dually enrolled k-12 students who leave school to attend classes at a university or technical college campus, as well as daycare centers on these same campuses.”
From the office of the Gov.
In other words: “Look at this baby!”
There should be no open carry debate in GA as the author referenced. You can open carry so long as you have a valid GWL. The only thing left to gain would be constitutional carry wihich would be great.
Ralph … I’m stealing your line “college students should be entitled to carry something other than $200,000 in student loan debt.” ….. if that is ok?
There is much more to be done. Constitutional Carry will end any chance of making more progress. The Legislators that moved this bill through the General Assembly and GeorgiaCarry were very very close to the line. They squeezed as much as possible out. There was nothing left on the table.
One Republican, Sen. Fran Millar, voted against the bill. More would have joined him if anything else was in the bill. Sen. Millar justified his vote by stating: “I’m not against the Second Amendment but I do think campus carry is a thing we probably don’t need.”
Good but it looks no open carry choose and force to hide …..
K12 , Capitol white chamber and poling place on elelection day next 4 places + Constitutional carry and repeal the 5 inch blade limit !
Working on get honoring sc, an nfa shall sign law ore shall issue non residenzler it s still enough to do but if you see sc and florida it s realy the golden mittle today 🙂
Great news! I wish this had been passed while I was at Georgia Tech, though better late than never I suppose!
This pretty well blows. They could have simply removed the stupid clause banning weapons in colleges, but instead they wrote yet another exception to the weapon ban– and then only applied it to public colleges.
So my Spyderco will still make me a felon at Emory. Thanks a lot.
so if the state you have residence in doesn’t have reciprocity with georgia you still wouldn’t be able to carry.