'Campus Carry' Bill Advances Through Georgia Legislature

ATLANTA, GA -- A bill that would allow licensed gun holders to carry concealed weapons on public college campuses continues to advance through the Georgia legislature.

A Senate committee late Thursday approved the so-called "Campus-Carry" bill, which would allow concealed handguns on public college grounds as long as the owner is 21 and older and has a permit from the state.

The OK from the Senate panel means that for the second year in a row, a bill that would allow weapons in the classrooms and hallways of higher education has made it deep within the state lawmaking body. Last year, contentious debate surrounded the issue, especially in the wake of a number of mass shootings that unnerved the public.

This year, House Bill 280, which stipulates that buildings where high schoolers attend classes be exempted, is more quietly advancing.

But there are critics of the legislation. The Georgia chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America is adamant that handguns have no place among the state's learning institutions.

"As Governor Deal pointed out last year, when Presidents Jefferson and Madison sat on the Board of Visitors to the University of Virginia, they explicitly rejected allowing guns on campus, solidifying the widely accepted idea that our schools should remain safe havens for learning," Lindsey Donovan, volunteer chapter leader of the group, said in a statement.

Gov. Nathan Deal has also long expressed misgivings about the legislation, saying before he vetoed a similar measure last year that, "From the early days of our nation and state, colleges have been treated as sanctuaries of learning where firearms have not been allowed. To depart from such time-honored protections should require overwhelming justification. I do not find that such justification exists."

Lawmakers this time around hope a number of added exemptions can persuade Deal to approve the measure. Features of HB 280 include exclusion of guns at athletic events, student dormitories, fraternity and sorority houses and in buildings that have day cares and preschools.

Read HB 280 aka the 'Campus Carry Bill'

University System of Georgia Chancellor Steve Wrigley testified before senators last month, saying that the bill -- or any like it -- would not inherently make state campuses safer. Wrigley said that many of the state's institutions, including Georgia Tech and Georgia State, were employing robust technological tools in the name of campus safety.

"Many schools are adopting new apps on their phones for campus-wide crime alerts," Wrigley told the senators. "Georgia Tech has implemented an advanced crime analytics system. And Georgia State has increased the number of controlled access points to ensure only those permitted have access to certain areas."

But proponents say the bill is the first step toward making some of the most vulnerable Georgians feel safer.

"There is nothing right now prohibiting bad people from coming on our campuses with firearms," The bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Mandi Ballinger of Canton, said, according to the Associated Press.

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