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By Aaron Gould Sheinin
Georgia House Republicans are making a late charge to legalize the carrying of guns on college campuses in the waning hours of the 2014 legislative session.
The House Rules Committee this afternoon opened a new front in the fight for sweeping gun legislation by taking a bill created to legalize the use of silencers — technically known as suppressors — and amending it to be a larger weapons measure.
It should reach the House floor soon.
The new version of Senate Bill 93 would:
- Allow weapons permit holders to carry guns onto college campuses, but not into dorms or athletic events.
House leaders tried to pass this in 2013, but the Senate refused. With just hours left in the 2014 session, it remains to be seen whether this is a serious attempt to pass campus carry or a late negotiating ploy.
But the bill also would make weapons in church an “opt-in” provision, perhaps as an enticement to the Senate. The new language says guns would be prohibited from houses of worship unless the governing authority of the church specifically allows them. That has been the Senate position all along, while the House had wanted to allow weapons in church, unless the church specifically said no.
- Allow guns into bars unless property owners specifically decide to bar weapons from their premises.
Just as in earlier versions, the bill would allow weapons to be carried into government buildings that do not have security screening.
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