In May of 2017, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal signed a campus carry bill into law. In September of that year, six Georgia college professors filed a lawsuit against Governor Deal and Georgia AG Chris Carr. The professors alleged the state didn’t have the authority to regulate its own university system.
“Whether firearms on campuses help or hinder the cause of creating a safe and secure learning environment is, to be sure, a subject of intense debate,” the lawsuit said. “Reasonable minds can and do differ on this issue, but this case is not about who is right. Rather, it is about which entity decides.”
Last week, Judge Kimberly Adams denied the injunction to stop the heavily regulated bearing of arms in Georgia institutions of higher learning. Judge Adams presides over the Superior Court of Fulton County.
Superior Court Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams wrote in her ruling her decision had nothing to do with the merits of the complaint. Instead, she wrote, “because the State has not waived sovereign immunity, and, to the extent Plaintiffs claims could be sustained against Defendants in their individual capacities, official immunity would bar such claims.” …
The professors argued campus carry is dangerous and unconstitutional. The law has been long sought by conservatives and gun rights activists as a safety measure for students, faculty and administrators. Gov. Nathan Deal signed the law in 2017. He and Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr were defendants in the case.
The professors say they are considering an appeal.
The Georgia campus carry law has now been in effect for over a year without ill effects. The experience in Georgia mirrors those in other states. Five other states — Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Texas, and Utah — explicitly allow for the licensed concealed carry of firearms on campus, including inside of campus buildings. Kansas has had constitutional carry on its campuses for over a year.
As Students for Concealed Carry on Campus predicted, problems have been minimal. There have been no murders, rapes, suicides or assaults with guns legally carried on campus, since at least 2007. And despite dire warnings, blood has not run through the halls of academe.
©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.