Churches would get to choose to allow guns in sanctuaries, but colleges would have to accept weapons on campus under an amended gun bill approved by a House committee Tuesday.
The House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee gave a favorable vote to Senate Bill 101, although the panel made significant changes. The Senate bill was the narrower of two gun bills moving this legislative session. It would keep secret the names of those with concealed weapons permits and allow military veterans younger than 21 to obtain a weapons permit.
The House committee added much of its own bill, House Bill 512. That measure, which has already passed the House, originally would have allowed guns in bars, churches, nonsecure government buildings and much of college campuses. But the committee on Tuesday voted to remove bars from the bill, require churches to decide whether to allow weapons and specifically banned guns in courthouses. Stripped from SB 101 was a provision that would have barred local governments from prohibiting gun owners from living in public housing.
The committee made no changes to the so-called campus carry section, which would allow weapons permit holders — who must be 21 — to carry guns anywhere on campus other than athletic events, fraternity and sorority houses, and dormitories.
The changes had the blessings of Rep. Rick Jasperse, R-Jasper, the sponsor of HB 512, and Sen. Frank Ginn, R-Danielsville, the sponsor of SB 101, as well as pro-gun groups advocating for the bill.
It did not, however, have the OK of supporters of stricter gun controls.
“We do not believe guns are safe in public places,” said Melinda Ennis, a co-chapter head of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense. “People are emotional and aren’t well-trained. You just can’t legislate it and you cannot control emotional people with guns.”
Ennis is married to Bert Roughton, a managing editor and the senior editorial director of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Ennis and other critics of the bill questioned why the committee felt comfortable striking the sections on bars and courthouses and giving churches the option but felt no such compunction to limit colleges’ ability to restrict weapons on campus.
Committee Chairman Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, said he understood their concerns but believes the Second Amendment was written to allow “people to protect themselves.” He also doubts many students will choose to carry guns, but at some schools where crime has been a concern, such as Georgia Tech, it will help.
Besides, Powell said, the bill has safeguards.
“We’re talking about the age of 21, majority consent, no felony convictions” and meet certain mental health benchmarks.
Jasperse said he has received a letter signed by every public college in Georgia opposing the bill. No one from the Board of Regents or any individual school spoke at Tuesday’s meeting.
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