Efforts to expand access to guns across Georgia failed Thursday on the state Legislature’s last day, as negotiations floundered on a single issue:
Whether to allow firearms on the more than 50 campuses of the state’s university and technical college systems.
The so-called “campus carry” provision in a sweeping gun bill before lawmakers this year has long stymied pro-gun advocacy groups pushing to broaden firearms access statewide. They thought it was within their grasp this year right up until Thursday, until Senate negotiators dug in their heels and stopped their momentum.
Senate Bill 101 would also have let churches allow guns in sanctuaries, allowed school boards to arm school administrators and allowed military veterans younger than 21 to carry weapons.
The debate comes as many states and Congress are wrestling with gun laws — especially whether to tighten restrictions in the wake of mass shootings such as December’s school massacre in Newtown, Conn.
Lawmakers acting as negotiators from both the House and Senate had been working on a compromise all week. But they arrived at loggerheads Thursday afternoon over whether to include campuses in the bill.
Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, said the two sides had an apparent agreement on Wednesday but said the Senate moved the goal posts the next morning.
“We thought we had a deal,” an exasperated Powell said.
His comments surprised Sen. Frank Ginn, R-Danielsville, S.B. 101’s original sponsor. Talks on the bill during the session’s last few days went on in fits and starts. Given that the state Legislature works on a two-year cycle, next year will likely see a repeat of the effort to come to some sort of agreement.
“Alan’s worked very hard on this bill, and I’ve worked very hard on it in the Senate,” Ginn said. ” I don’t think that my good friend would do anything to discourage me. There’s a lot of great features in the versions that came out of both chambers and we’re just trying to marry them.”
Powell said House and Senate negotiators had agreed, after Gov. Nathan Deal stepped in, to allow concealed weapons permit holders to carry weapons on college campuses with the stipulation that permit holders between the ages of 21 and 25 would have to complete an eight-hour safety course first.
“We held our nose and went along,” Powell said.
Thursday morning, he said, senators told House negotiators that they wanted to require anyone, regardless of age, to complete the safety course before being allowed to carry a firearm on campus.
SB 101, as it had been written, would have allowed weapons permit holders over the age of 21 to carry guns on most parts of campuses, with exceptions for sporting events, dorms and fraternity or sorority houses.
The Senate’s position against the campus carry provision had strong support from members of the state Board of Regents, which governs the state’s powerful University System of Georgia; University System Chancellor Hank Huckaby, a former legislator who still holds sway with colleagues in the state Legislature; and Ron Jackson, the commissioner of the Technical College System of Georgia.
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