Today, as I write, House Bill 89 rests on Gov. Sonny Perdue's desk awaiting his signature.

It will permit those with concealed-carry permits to take their firearms onto public transportation, into state parks and into restaurants that earn more than 50 percent of their income from food. Perdue should veto this bill. And he shouldn't dilly-dally doing it.

The gun issue nowadays isn't ultimately a Republican vs. Democrat or a conservative vs. liberal issue, but simply one of public safety. And if our laws aren't doing the job, please don't believe for a minute that putting more guns in more hands in more places will solve the problem.

Indeed, opponents of this bill feel about allowing guns everywhere the way most people feel about nuclear proliferation. That is, the more bombs and/or guns, the more likely that, eventually, somebody will discover a reason —- good, bad or bonkers —- to use them.

Americans have allowed the idiocy of gun worship to become institutionalized. If I spy a villain in this, it's gun-rights advocates who refuse to acknowledge that even constitutional amendments have implied built-in constraints or restraints, including the most hallowed of all, the First Amendment, famously in the caveat that "free speech" doesn't extend to shouting "Fire!" in a crowded auditorium.

Here in Georgia, gun-rights advocates want people with concealed-carry permits to be able to tote everywhere when the state, incredibly, has no requirements at all for training or determining the competence of those who apply.

And few in the Georgia General Assembly advocate closing the gun-show loophole that allows unlicensed private dealers to sell guns without first performing an "inconvenient" background check. Consider this: If the Virginia Tech gunman who killed our son and 31 others last April 16 had been denied the right to buy a gun because of mental health issues, he could have found the firearms he wanted at a gun show. And don't think he wasn't smart enough and motivated to do that. The Columbine High School shooters in Colorado bought firearms at gun shows.

These irresponsible laws, or these unaddressed gaps in our laws, owe their existence to the singlemindedness of the gun lobby and to lobbying tactics that border on bullying. After all, nothing should theoretically prevent responsible gun owners from bucking that lobby, even if some National Rifle Association members like to note that NRA stands for "Never Re-elected Again" if a lawmaker lands on their bad side. Also, these gun-rights groups regularly incite their memberships by whipping up tin-hat paranoia, howling that giving an inch will lead to wholesale confiscation. Could that happen? Sure. Anything's possible, but it's about as likely as the U.S. Congress reinstating Prohibition.

In short, why is there no (visible/audible) element of the NRA or of other gun-rights groups that insists that gun ownership and belief in the Second Amendment are not incompatible with laws that also promote public safety and accountability?

In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson gives our basic rights under the aegis of our new nation as "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." Life comes first, because without it the other two legs of this noble tripod are instantly amputated.

If someone wishes to kill another person, the targeted person's mere possession of a handgun is not going to save that person's life. The murders during a Missouri city council meeting earlier this year at which armed policemen were present prove that even trained gun handlers can't prevent a mad soul from wreaking a degree of havoc before the shooter falls to their bullets or commits suicide.

Forgive me, but I'm literally sick and tired of those who elevate the Second Amendment to the status of a Mosaic commandment and recognize no limitations on the freedoms that it grants. To the extent that they do so, I see them as worshipping a golden calf and trying to impose that same heinous worship on everyone else.

Not long ago, I dreamed that our son, Jamie, had telephoned our house but I couldn't get to the phone before the answering machine picked up. I talked over the recorded message, of course, but static on the line discouraged Jamie and he rang off. Then I knew that I was merely dreaming, and awoke to a fresh realization that our son is permanently gone and that in this life we will never talk to him again.

A warning from Virginia Tech authorities an hour earlier on April 16, 2007, would undoubtedly have saved him and many others, but guns in every hand, everywhere, will only spread the massacres out over both space and time. We must quit worshipping guns and the absurd notion that they save more lives than they take.

Gov. Perdue, show some grit and do the right thing: Veto HB 89.

> Michael Bishop is a writer living in Pine Mountain. His son, Jamie, taught German at Virginia Tech and was killed in the campus shootings a year ago today.