Will he or won’t he?
Both sides of the campus carry debate are watching Gov. Nathan Deal to see if he will repeat last year's veto of a bill allowing guns on Georgia's public colleges campuses. This year's version of campus carry, House Bill 280, contains concessions designed to persuade the governor to sign it, including continuing to outlaw guns in campus-based childcare centers.
But opponents continue to rally against the bill with protests, video pleas and emails. One of those opponents is University of North Georgia professor Matthew Boedy, who has collected and studied data on campus carry laws in other states. His verdict: Campus carry does not improve safety. Nor do crime stats from Georgia's colleges justify guns in classrooms.
"There is no crime wave as 'campus carry' advocates persist in saying," says Boedy today in the AJC Get Schooled blog. "There is no '200 percent' increase in rapes at Georgia Tech, as Rep. Mandi Ballinger claimed in her March 3 speech in favor of House Bill 280…And another fact on campus crime in Georgia: not one person has used a stun gun or Taser to stop a crime at five Georgia campuses since they were allowed last summer."
Boedy maintains Georgia college campuses, like campuses nationwide, are overwhelmingly safer than other public areas. “The numbers don’t lie. And in the case of guns stopping crimes on campus, the lack of numbers don’t lie either. House Bill 280 just is not needed,” he says.
To read more about the campus carry legislation, go to the AJC Get Schooled blog.
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