A series of recent events may have created a climate that could allow the state Legislature to avoid a public meltdown next year over whether to allow students to tote concealed weaponry as they stroll the campuses of Georgia’s public universities.
But don’t kid yourself. This has nothing to do with the dead and wounded at the Washington Navy Yard, where a contractor with voices in his head killed a dozen co-workers in mid-September.
We are becoming hardened to such events. According to the Pew Research Center, in terms of the number of Americans who closely followed it, the Navy Yard rampage ranked well behind last year’s massacres of first-graders in Newtown, Conn., and moviegoers in Aurora, Colo., and the shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Gifford in 2011.
No, the climate change in Georgia can be traced to a trio of far more prosaic factors:
- A likely May 20 primary that will come on the heels of next year's General Assembly session. Opponents will be making themselves known in March, even as state lawmakers might be debating this volatile issue.
- Gov. Nathan Deal now has two Republican primary opponents. Neither state School Superintendent John Barge nor Dalton Mayor David Pennington currently poses a threat to Deal's renomination, but a draining legislative fight over guns at public universities would only provide more ammunition for their insurgent candidacies.
- But most important: The convenient, but certainly temporary, alliance that has developed between Second Amendment purists and those who believe that the introduction of firearms to Georgia's heavily populated, beer-soaked campuses qualifies as a form of societal insanity.
That last point may require some explanation.
By the end of the 2013 session, state lawmakers had packed Senate Bill 101 with the bits and pieces of several pro-Second Amendment bills — such as allowing churches to permit guns in sanctuaries, letting local boards of education arm school administrators, and granting military veterans younger than 21 the ability to obtain concealed-carry permits.
But the most sensitive portion of the bill, driven by lawmakers concerned about assaults and robberies at Georgia Tech and Georgia State University, would permit the carrying of concealed weapons throughout Georgia’s public universities — barring sporting events, dormitories, and the houses of sororities and fraternities.
Current Georgia law permits students to keep firearms locked in vehicles in university parking lots, but nowhere else.
An intense lobbying effort in opposition by the University System of Georgia and the state Board of Regents angered one of the bill’s key backers, House Rules Chairman John Meadows, R-Calhoun, who condemned the regents as an unelected “fourth branch of government.”
Meadows held sway in an intense series of House-Senate negotiations — with one exception. College students who wished to carry concealed weaponry and were between the ages of 21 and 25 would be required to undergo special firearms training.
But lawmakers left Atlanta before SB 101 received final passage. The measure remains in cryostasis — and could be thawed out for immediate passage when state lawmakers return in January.
On Wednesday, in a phone conversation, Meadows declined to tip his hand. “There are a lot of people besides me involved in these conversations. We have talked a little — not a lot,” the House Rules chairman said. “We have not decided where we’re going with it.”
But he dropped a few hints. For one, Meadows indicated that his fury at the regents and Chancellor Hank Huckaby has abated somewhat. “I’m a huge fan of Hank Huckaby,” Meadows said.
He gave mention to another bill, House Bill 512, as an alternative. The original version of that measure, which he co-sponsored, avoided the topic of campus carry.
Lastly, Meadows acknowledged that GeorgiaCarry.org, one of the three important pro-Second Amendment groups that lobby the state Capitol, has told him that the organization would not object if he chose to abandon the campus-carry portion of SB 101.
GeorgiaCarry.org had been the most ferocious advocate for guns on Georgia campuses.
Why the shift? Because of the portion of SB 101 that would require firearms training for younger college students. “We don’t think you should ever have to be trained to exercise a constitutional right,” said John Henry, executive director of GeorgiaCarry.org. Any requirement for firearms training might someday be expanded, he and others believe.
State Rep. Charles Gregory, R-Kennesaw, draws support from Georgia Gun Owners, which describes itself as the state’s only “no compromise” gun lobby. “I will absolutely never vote for mandatory training,” Gregory said. “That’s a deal-breaker for more than just me.”
On the other side of the Capitol, Sen. Frank Ginn, R-Danielsville, is the only member of his chamber who signed onto last year’s compromise who will be back in January. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville, resigned from the Senate to run for Congress.
Ginn said campus carry wasn’t one of his priorities last year. And he, too, has qualms about requiring firearms training for students. “If you open that door, to require training to get a special license, that migrates — you’re truly infringing on the Second Amendment,” he said.
Drop campus carry from SB 101, Ginn said, “and we’ve got a great bill.”
Which appears to be where we’re headed. Cock your ear and you might hear sighs of relief escaping from between the teeth of a thousand university administrators. And maybe a few parents, too.
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