In the wake of last week’s mass murder on an Oregon college campus, President Obama announced his intention to “politicize” the tragedy. He meant that in the honorable sense of the term, which believe it or not still has relevance. We may have forgotten, but politics is supposed to be the process by which we address problems in this country.
Certainly, the Roseburg shootings are going to be politicized in the upcoming session of the Georgia General Assembly, where House Bill 544 is likely to get attention. Under HB 544, introduced last year, a person with a concealed weapons license would be able to carry a weapon, and I quote,”in or on any real property or building owned by or leased to any public or private technical school, vocational school, college, university, or other institution of postsecondary education.”
“Any building or real property” means college classrooms. It means administrative offices. The student union. The gym, the dormitory, the cafeteria. It means Sanford Stadium on a football Saturday at UGA. And Bobby Dodd Stadium at Georgia Tech. And basketball games. And concerts.
What could possibly go wrong?
A lot. Colleges and universities are different places. They often produce high-stress situations for young people away from home for the first time, often experimenting with alcohol and drugs and sex. Suicides are already too common, as are alienated young men. And if you introduce firearms into that volatile environment, you are asking for tragedy.
But let me ask it another way: How many of you work in an office, store or factory where you interact with co-workers and customers? Does your workplace allow your co-workers and customers to openly carry and display firearms?
No. Very few workplaces allow employees or customers to carry weapons. They know the numbers. Their insurance companies know the numbers. They don’t want workplace violence. They don’t want the intimidation that weapons can create. They don’t want the accidents. They don’t want somebody who just got a bad employee evaluation, or who just got fired, to have quick and easy access to a firearm. They know that a firearm in a place of business is far more likely to cause than prevent damage.
And if we make guns legal on our college campuses, we’re going to expose thousands and thousands of university employees to a gun-friendly environment that most workers and employers would not find acceptable in a private business. It’s a matter of workplace safety.
Ask legislators. Ask members of the public. “Would YOU like to work in an office where a co-worker kept a loaded .45 in her desk, where another guy walked around with a gun strapped to his waist? Would that make you feel safe and comfortable, or would that make you deeply uneasy?”
In an AJC poll last year, 78 percent of Georgians thought campus carry was a terrible idea. That opposition reaches every part of the state, every demographic group and even every part of the Republican coalition. Men oppose it by a 2-to-1 ratio. Republicans oppose it by 3 to 1. South Georgia opposes it by more than 4 to 1. Overall, just 20 percent of Georgians think this is a good idea.
But as we’ll see, that 20 percent is quite adept at this “politicizing” thing.
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