Fairfax, Va. – Georgia State Senators today handed former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg yet another defeat in his effort to limit the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. By a margin of 37 to 17, Senators voted to pass House Bill 859, legislation aimed at improving safety on college campuses in Georgia. The bill now heads to Governor Nathan Deal.
“This important legislation will make Georgia college campuses safer places for students, faculty and administrators,” said Catherine Mortensen, NRA Spokesperson. “Today’s vote is a clear victory for the Second Amendment and a repudiation of New York City billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s gun control agenda. Bloomberg-funded groups launched a misinformation campaign in the Peach State about this bill. Georgians saw right through the lies and scare tactics.”
New York City billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s gun-control group, Everytown for Gun Safety, opposes the legislation and is airing television ads in opposition to HB 859. The television buy is part of the gun control group’s misinformation campaign that claims campus carry is dangerous and will result in a spike in crime and firearm accidents. Facts do not support these claims.
House Bill 859 would allow adult college students the same right to defend themselves on campus that they already have off-campus. Under the proposed law, law-abiding Georgia Weapons License (GWL) holders would be allowed to carry when they are in or on any building or real property owned by or leased to any public technical school, vocational school, college, university, or other institution of post-secondary education.
“We want to thank our members and supporters in Georgia who rallied behind this bill and urged their senators to vote for it,” added Mortensen. “We also want to thank all the Georgia state lawmakers who supported the fundamental right of students to self-protection, whether on or off-campus.”
Facts:
- People who have carry permits are statistically more law-abiding than the general public. For example, Florida has issued over 2.7 million carry permits – the most of any state – and has had to revoke only 0.006 percent (six one-thousandths of one percent) of them because of firearm crimes by permit holders.
- Eight states have provisions, either by legislation or court rulings, allowing the carrying of concealed weapons on public postsecondary campuses: Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin. (Kansas law goes into effect July 2017. Oregon and Wisconsin laws do not allow for carrying of firearms into campus buildings).
- In 2006 the Utah Supreme Court held that public colleges and universities could not enforce any policy prohibiting a concealed carry license holder from possessing a firearm on their campus. A comparison of the violent crime data at the University of Utah between 2003-2006 (4 years prior to firearms on campus) and 2007-2010 (4 years after firearms on campus) reveals that permitting law-abiding adults to possess firearms did not lead to an increase in violent crime. In fact, the University of Utah experienced a drop in the rates of violent crime, forcible rapes, and aggravated assaults.
- Amanda Collins is a good example of why campus carry laws are needed. Collins, a young college student in Reno, NV who was brutally attacked and sexually assaulted on a campus. She had a valid concealed carry permit at the time, but was not allowed to bring her firearm on campus. She was raped at gun point by a man who illegally had a firearm on campus. Below are 2 links to her story:
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/counterpoint-rape-survivor-argues-why-we-need-guns-campus
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