“No good Georgian who’s a student is going to be threatening professors or stifling conversation”.
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Deal’s decision to kill the gun bill isn’t a complete surprise.
We now know that Georgia Governor Nathan Deal has vetoed a bill that would have allowed students to carry guns on campus. But the GOP-controlled legislature responded by saying the original bill was carefully considered.
He cited the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s majority opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller.
Long an opponent of the measure, Deal said in February that fears that campus carry would lead to a “Wild West scenario” were overblown. Deal, referring to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison opposing guns on the University of Virginia campus, concluded that “no justification exists” to allow firearms into “sanctuaries of learning”.
“To depart from such time-honoured protections should require overwhelming justification”.
“If it’s not me, it’s someone else trying to find a place where we can allow Georgians who have a Georgia weapons carry license to carry in more places throughout the state”. “I commend the governor for vetoing the bill”.
“We agreed with Governor Deal when he said that the arguments against the campus safety bill lacked validity”, said NRA spokeswoman Catherine Mortensen.
The Board of Regents, our 29 Presidents and campus police chiefs are fully committed to enhancing all aspects of our campus safety efforts across the university system.
The major advocacy group for campus carry at Georgia colleges is Students for Concealed Carry.
Colorado, Utah, Oregon, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Idaho have all lifted some gun restriction on college campuses in recent years.
R.E.M. front man Michael Stipe wrote an op-ed for USA Today, discussing how he met his bandmates on the University of Georgia campus and said he anxious how life on campuses might change if students were allowed to bring guns. He initially signaled that he would support legislation to allow students aged 21 and over to carry concealed weapons to class, but later asked lawmakers to consider exemptions for on-campus child care centers, faculty and administrative office space, and disciplinary meetings.
Democrats credited students, faculty and other opponents with helping defeat the “ill-advised” measure. That gives him some leeway, according to University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock.
Gun rights groups, though, have promised to revive the bill next year, calling it an “important safety measure”. Powell declined to discuss the governor’s reason for the veto, after other conservative governors have signed similar legislation.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Deal vetoed HB 859 on Tuesday. “They deserve to be able to carry their firearms”. “I’m actually more concerned about the number of times Deal has been vetoing laws this year”.
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Stay on topic – This helps keep the thread focused on the discussion at hand.
