Nathan Deal suggests he’ll veto campus carry measure unless changes are made (crime, house)

[Airforceguy]

Gov. Nathan Deal wants substantive changes to a measure that would allow college students to carry concealed guns onto campuses, suggesting Monday that he might veto the controversial proposal if lawmakers don’t take a second crack at it.

The governor’s office said in a statement Monday that he wants lawmakers to consider exempting on-campus child care centers from legislation that would legalize firearms at all public colleges in Georgia and address his concerns about high school students who are joint-enrolled in college courses on campuses that allow firearms.

He also said that universities and technical colleges should have discretion to set their own rules regarding disciplinary hearings for weapons-related charges.

“Addressing these issues is an important step in ensuring the safety and freedoms of students, faculty and staff in our institutions of higher learning throughout our state,” said the statement from Deal’s office, which didn’t use the word “veto” but implied it nonetheless.

Here’s where it gets a bit complicated: House Bill 859 has already been approved by both legislative chambers and sent to Deal’s desk. Yet lawmakers could still approve new changes to firearms rules in separate legislation winding its way through the Legislature.

If that’s the case, then Deal would first sign the original “campus carry” legislation and then the second measure that includes the changes he wants. The second measure would take precedence over the first.

Nathan Deal suggests he’ll veto campus carry measure unless changes are made | Political Insider blog

[magnetar]

I very much appreciate the Governor serving as a counterweight to the extremist fringe wing of the Republican party that's overtaken the legislature. I just worry that the next Republican gubernatorial nominee will be a reaction to Deal's relative moderation.

[primaltech]

College students drink, they drink more, they drink even more, then they drink more. They drink alcohol like crazy. This guns everywhere on everyone, means more accidents and incidents, both sober and drunk.

College students also are stressed out. Mostly a bunch of very young adults, many of them on various medications, not all of them very mentally or socially healthy or stable. All under various tons of intense pressure.

It just all adds up to creating more danger than preventing it. You defend against the so-called "bad guy with a gun", with freaking armed security guards and metal detectors and crap like that. Not by putting a loaded gun to everyone's head, and a bottle of tequila in the other hand, and just praying that we don't have an earthquake.

[ElleKaye]

I did not expect to agree with the governor that often but I have to go along with this. I know students want to feel able to protect themselves, but when I think back on my college days, I can come up with quite a few students who should never be allowed to legally have had a gun on campus.

It's kind of the same argument that criminals don't care whether it is legal so why not arm yourself, but I probably would not drive near a campus if all students could have guns.

This is a mess. I don't want to feel like I'm in the wild, wild west.

[MattCW]

Originally Posted by ElleKaye

*SNIP*

It's kind of the same argument that criminals don't care whether it is legal so why not arm yourself, but I probably would not drive near a campus if all students could have guns.

"All students" CAN'T have guns! For goodness sake! Why does this crap keep being passed around like it's fact! ONLY Those 21 and over and ONLY Those who have passed the background check and been fingerprinted. In other words a group of folks statistically FAR less likely to commit a crime of any type much less a firearm crime!

This is a mess. I don't want to feel like I'm in the wild, wild west.

The wild west had far more gun control than even places like California currently do.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by primaltech

It just all adds up to creating more danger than preventing it. You defend against the so-called "bad guy with a gun", with freaking armed security guards and metal detectors and crap like that. Not by putting a loaded gun to everyone's head, and a bottle of tequila in the other hand, and just praying that we don't have an earthquake.

Then let's wall off our college campuses and put security checkpoints up.

[CCATL]

Very good. I can't believe that this is a second time I'm agreeing with the Governor (to an extent). As someone who actually works on a college campus, and spends every day here, I am completely against campus carry bills. If anything goes through the legislature and there needs to be compromise so that the Republicans can appease their gun-toting citizens, then it should be that the state will allow it, as long as the university itself allows it. Leave the discretion up to university leadership, who KNOW about life on a college campus, and for that reason basically unanimously opposes campus carry. Again, I actually spend my everyday on a college campus, with college students. Guns DO NOT belong here. I don't care if the kids have a background check and are over 21 - 21 is still young, college is still stressful, and there are lots of drunken arguments. This is no place for guns, period. If you don't spend your everyday on a college campus, you have no right to make decisions for what the campus does. It's not your life on the line. There really is no argument you can make otherwise.

[AnsleyPark]

What is telling, is that, like CCATL in the post above, most college and university administrators oppose the college carry movement. Those are the folks from whom the legislature should take direction, not from the rabid folks over at the NRA.

[Born 2 Roll]

If Governor Deal vetoes the Campus Carry bill, there seems to be a chance that the legislature potentially might attempt to override his veto....That's particularly with this being an election year and especially with powerful pro-Second Amendment interest groups (like Georgia Carry, Georgia Gun Owners and the aforementioned NRA, etc) watching this issue very closely in this election year.

[Carolina Knight]

I hate to say the threat of mass shootings in public places, including college campuses, is dangerously high. If law abiding students, professors, and faculty cannot be permitted to carry arms to protect themselves and others from terrorists, there may be consequences. Why not improve funding for campus safety for additional officers, additional equipment, and further training?

The Georgia Republican Party is already divided between Deal and his liberal Democrat/Republican in name only colleagues and conservative Republicans.