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Georgia state House votes to allow guns on public
college campuses
By David Beasley
The
bill would let anyone 21 or over with a concealed weapons permit take their
handguns on public college campuses but not into dormitories, fraternity and
sorority houses or sporting events.
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"The
House took a very clear position that the Second Amendment does not stop at the
edge of a college campus," Speaker David Ralston, a Republican, said
following passage of the bill, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
A
Democratic opponent of the bill, State Representative Robert Trammell, said in
a phone interview on Tuesday that he believed the U.S. Constitution's Second
Amendment allowed handguns to be barred from "sensitive" places such
as college campuses.
"In
addition to the question of public safety, a weapon in a classroom environment
is antithetical to the idea and mission of post-secondary education,"
Trammell said.
Supporters
of the measure have cited several recent armed robberies of students in the
library at Georgia State University in downtown Atlanta as evidence that
students should be allowed to arm themselves.
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But
Trammell said there is no data showing that campuses would be safer if students
were allowed to carry weapons.
The
Georgia Board of Regents, which governs the state's colleges and universities,
opposes the bill, spokesman Charles Sutlive said. The Georgia legislature
defeated a similar bill in 2014.
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Last week, the president of
the University of Texas reluctantly approved plans that would allow licensed
concealed handgun holders to bring pistols into classrooms, after the Texas
legislature last year approved a "campus carry" law similar to the
one proposed in Georgia.
Georgia's
bill covers only public colleges. Texas allows private colleges to opt out of
campus carry, and most of the best-known private schools have.
(Editing
by Colleen Jenkins and Jonathan Oatis)
http://news.yahoo.com/georgia-state-house-votes-allow-guns-public-college-165628262.html
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