{"id":935,"date":"2016-04-16T13:00:07","date_gmt":"2016-04-16T13:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.southwestgeorgialawyer.com\/?p=935"},"modified":"2016-04-16T13:00:07","modified_gmt":"2016-04-16T13:00:07","slug":"the-new-campus-carry-gun-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ktoddbutlerlaw.com\/?p=935","title":{"rendered":"The New Campus Carry Gun Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

As of this writing, Governor Deal is still contemplating the new campus gun carry bill, H.B. 869<\/a>, passed on March 11, 2016. If the bill becomes law, you can take a handgun with you onto a state college or university campus if you have a Georgia Weapons Carry License. However, there will still be some restrictions.<\/p>\n

Deal has had the bill for over a month now and it automatically becomes law if he doesn\u2019t veto it by May 3, 2016.<\/p>\n

Before the bill passed, Deal had wanted restrictions that gun rights lobbyists\u00a0kept out, but as time drags on, it looks like Deal may let the bill become law by default.<\/p>\n

To summarize the campus carry law, it modifies, or relaxes, the restriction against having a gun on a college campus. In Georgia, so long as the law doesn\u2019t forbid you from possessing a weapon (because you\u2019re a convicted felon or because you\u2019re drunk at the time) then you have almost no restrictions while you\u2019re on your own property, at your own place of business, in your own automobile, or so long as you\u2019re hunting and you have a hunting license.<\/p>\n

Georgia law prohibits you from being armed in public away from private property unless you have a Georgia Weapons Carry License. (A lot of people refer to their WCL as a \u201cconcealed weapons\u201d permit, but a \u201cpublic carry\u201d permit is more accurate.)<\/p>\n

As a general rule, any non-felon can get a WCL who is at least 21 and has no drug convictions or family violence issues, and who hasn\u2019t been in a mental institution or drug and alcohol in-patient rehab in the last five years. With a WCL, you can take your firearm almost anywhere except court, jail, school, the mental hospital, the polling booth and church (unless the preacher okays it). And you don\u2019t have to conceal your gun. You can carry it in a holster on your hip like Marshall Dillon if that\u2019s what you want to do.<\/p>\n

The campus carry bill modifies the restriction related to schools. As of right now, it\u2019s a misdemeanor to take a gun to school if you have a WCL, and a felony if you don\u2019t. \u00a0If H.B. 859 becomes law anyone with a WCL can take a gun onto a post-secondary college or university campus, but the gun has to be concealed, such as in a shoulder holster under your coat, or in your purse.<\/p>\n

Argument against the bill: A lot has been said about firearms on campus creating new risks of firearms-related violence and accidents,<\/a> but the greater risk may be that the law interferes with University self-government. The law would force\u00a0colleges and universities to allow something they would otherwise prohibit, and if professors regard the law as interference with academic freedom<\/a>, then a brain-drain from Georgia\u2019s post-secondary institutions in response to the law could undermine Georgia\u2019s progress in higher education.<\/p>\n

Argument for the bill: Inner-city campuses are dangerous enough to warrant students carrying firearms for self-defense. Armed robberies have even occurred in an inner-city university\u2019s library<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Regardless of your position on the issue, I would always urge you if you\u00a0want to carry a firearm to make sure you\u00a0know what you're\u00a0doing with it<\/a>. If you don\u2019t know how to handle a firearm you\u2019re not going to protect anything and you're probably a greater risk to yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As of this writing, Governor Deal is still contemplating the new campus gun carry bill, H.B. 869, passed on March 11, 2016. If the bill becomes law, you can take a handgun with you onto a state college or university campus if you have a Georgia Weapons Carry License. However, there will still be some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"The New Campus Carry Gun Bill - K. Todd Butler, P.C.","description":"As of this writing, Governor Deal is still contemplating the new campus gun carry bill, H.B. 869 , passed on March 11, 2016. If the bill becomes law, you can ta"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-civil-rights","category-gun-law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktoddbutlerlaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktoddbutlerlaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktoddbutlerlaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktoddbutlerlaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktoddbutlerlaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ktoddbutlerlaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktoddbutlerlaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktoddbutlerlaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktoddbutlerlaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktoddbutlerlaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}