Coming gun bill won’t include campus carry

When House Republicans introduce their newest gun bill next week it will not include a provision allowing firearms on college campuses.

“Our focus always (has) been on making sure Second Amendment rights are protected for private property,” Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, said Friday. “This bill will strengthen the Second Amendment rights of Georgians.”

The Legislature’s own lawyers issued an opinion Thursday that a plan to allow public college and university presidents to decide whether guns would be allowed on their campuses was unconstitutional. Now, Ralston said, campus carry is likely a moot issue this year.

Campus carry “will probably be looked at in a separate measure,” Ralston said, adding that he was doubtful it would be introduced this year.

The House last year passed a comprehensive gun bill that included universal campus carry for any student 21 or older who passes a background check and obtains a permit. The Senate balked at the idea, however, and the gun bill faltered in the final days of the 2013 session. House leaders said Thursday that in light of the legislative counsel’s decision, they might consider returning to mandating campus carry be legal on all public college campuses. That now appears not to be the case.

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Aaron Gould Sheinin

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