Colin Goddard, a former Georgia resident wounded in the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings, rallied with others at the state Capitol Wednesday against legislation that would allow people to carry firearms on school campuses.
The bill also would allow guns to be carried in polling places and other areas, and another measure pending would lower the age for carrying concealed weapons from 21 years old to 18.
"To say that guns are the solution to gun violence is just ridiculous," said Goddard, who now works for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
Some supporters of such measures have argued that armed students could have stopped the multiple shootings at Virginia Tech.
Rep. Sean Jerguson, R-Woodstock, one of the sponsors of House Bill 981, which would open campuses to carrying guns, said he has never made that argument. He said his bill is based on the Second Amendment right to keep firearms and on the idea that people should be able to protect themselves.
Sen. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville, sponsor of Senate Bill 493, which would lower the age for carrying weapons to 18, could not be reached for comment.
Goddard and local members of groups such as Georgians for Gun Safety spoke in hopes of defeating the legislation, saying many who are 18 years old are not mature enough to make the kinds of decisions that carrying a gun could engender.
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