A ranking House Republican on Thursday proposed this year’s most comprehensive gun bill to date, suggesting firearms should be allowed without restrictions in the state’s churches and bars.
A bill co-sponsored by House Rules Chairman John Meadows, R-Calhoun, also would allow weapons within some restricted areas on college campuses and in school safety zones — but only with explicit permission from a school official or institution.
House Bill 512 faces a steep climb toward passage, however.
Legislative leaders, including House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, have said they expect no “dramatic shift” in Georgia’s gun laws this year. Measures that make it easier to carry guns have powerful opposition, including the University System of Georgia. And HB 512 is also being introduced late in the legislative session: There are only four days left before bills must pass at least one chamber to remain alive.
That formal deadline is called Crossover Day, which comes every year on the 30th day of the state Legislature’s annual 40-day session.
More than two dozen gun bills, including HB 512, have been offered this year following the Newtown school massacre in Connecticut in December. Many of them are pushing for expanded access to firearms across the Peach State.
HB 512 combines ideas from several of those proposals into one bill, including lifting the weapons ban on college campuses and strengthening state law by explicitly allowing guns in non-secured areas of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
Students currently can’t keep weapons in dorms or classrooms, but they may store them in locked cars. Guns can be carried into bars, but only with the permission of the bars’ owners. The state’s conceal-carry law also prohibits anyone under age 21 from carrying a gun.
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