Ga. Tech crime sparks NRA-backed push for campus guns
Jason Stubbs, left, of Georgia Students for Concealed Carry on Campus sets up a booth with Georgia Tech College Republicans' Andrew Mullins during a December debate on campus. John Spink, jspink@ajc.com.
Nearly five years ago, a disturbed English major at Virginia Tech killed 32 of his fellow classmates and wounded a score more.
The campus massacre occurred at the height of that year’s session of the Georgia Legislature. A bill to rewrite the state’s gun laws — and overturn bans on where firearms could and could not be carried — was stopped in its tracks.
But every yin has its yang. The recent spate of robberies and assaults on or near the Georgia Tech campus near downtown Atlanta is about to unleash an equal and opposite reaction — a furious debate over the place of guns in public spaces long declared gunpowder-free.
Including, and perhaps especially, in college dormitories and classrooms.
Representatives of the National Rifle Association were in town and stopped at the state Capitol last week. They informed lawmakers that the gun rights group would make a major lobbying effort in Atlanta over the next two months.
A laundry list of targets includes the continued state ban on permitted, concealed weapons in houses of worship. The NRA also wants to strengthen recently passed legislation that stakes out non-secured areas of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport as legitimate zones for concealed-carry.
Passage of a law to permit hunters to use silencers would be welcomed as icing on a large cake. Enthusiasts say the silencers — which would still require a federal license — would be a boon to neighbors of shootists. Silencers would also allow hunters to get off more than one shot when stalking herds of deer or feral pigs.
But it is the Board of Regents’ ironclad ban on firearms in dorms and campus buildings — long thought out of reach by gun rights activists — that will be the NRA’s primary object this year.
The Georgia Tech crime spree has the state’s top leaders rethinking regent policy. But let us be clear: Crime around Atlanta colleges isn’t something new. A Spelman College sophomore was killed in 2009 by a stray bullet. But the Atlanta University complex isn’t famous for the size or activity of its college Republican clubs. Georgia Tech is.
Gov. Nathan Deal and House Speaker David Ralston, in the opening days of the Legislature, made no commitments, but both said events require a more open-minded approach to the issue of guns on campus.
Carrying the ball in the House will be state Rep. Rich Golick, R-Smyrna, chairman of the Non-Civil Judiciary Committee. Golick said he intends to make sure something gets to the chamber floor for a vote.
“For me, the debate boils down to this — given that the university system simply cannot guarantee the safety of all students at all times, why should a 21-year-old, properly permitted student have less of a right to protect himself or herself in the event of a threat to their personal safety?” Golick said. “If a properly permitted female student has a baby and is pushing a stroller on campus, are we seriously going to deny her the ability to defend herself and her child in the event she is attacked?”
University officials might offer up different images. Perhaps one of gunplay during a drunken dormitory party. Or an army of befuddled campus cops, rushing to a Virginia Tech-like scene and trying to sort the armed bad guys from the armed good ones.
They might offer those pictures — but they don’t. The university system’s position is precarious, and so its officials prefer to wait for the legislation to show itself before they enter the public phase of argument.
Are there possible areas for compromise? Sure. Critics say that a gun ban on campuses is an advertisement that turns college students into easy prey. One suggestion heard this week would be to double or triple the penalties for crimes committed in firearm-free zones.
Another possibility would be the creation of a multitiered system of concealed weapons permits. Currently, permits are available to nearly anyone over 21 without a criminal record.
But another level of permit could require training in the handling of firearms — something more likely to be recognized by other states, which is important to those who carry across state lines.
Those with the permit requiring training might be allowed to pack on campus. Those without training might not not be.
Golick, whose House committee is likely to set the tenor for the debate, said he is maintaining an open mind when it comes to such proposals.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
For instant updates, follow me on Twitter, or connect with me on Facebook.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
116 comments Add your comment
A person SMART enough to know......
January 14th, 2012
11:16 pm
Ann do you have any idea how many Tech carry guns already?
tman
January 14th, 2012
11:45 pm
Can you imagine a classroom full of students who have not matured and owning a firearm. these weapons I guess would be stored in the dorms with ammunition. The slightest dispute between two individuals could erupt in gunfire. The campus police would have fits trying to keep order. it cannot be compared to the training you get in the military with a firearm there is discipline and rules and a chain of command. The college does not have that and is against it. it would be insane.
Jerome Horwitz
January 14th, 2012
11:57 pm
Hey George – I don’t think much of your opinion either.
A person SMART enough to know......
January 15th, 2012
12:18 am
tman………..MY GOD can you believe we let these crazy stupid college students even Drink Liquor and VOTE? How have they been able to survive to be 21? Many of these college students are about to graduate and get real jobs man they can’t handle that RESPONSIBILITY either.
The Only Moderate
January 15th, 2012
12:32 am
When I was at GT, it was 99% male and a lot of us were country boys, who hunted and were otherwise proficient with firearms. As soon as I was 21 I got a Fulton County Pistol Permit, and “toted” it; not on The Hill, but everywhere else.
In 2010, GT put out a press release that the most common last name in the freshman class was “Patel”. Georgia Tech students are now perceived as targets of opportunity, rather than a former Valdosta football player who will beat your ass and gut you with his Buck knife, or a GMA graduate with a Sharpshooter badge.
The reason the NRA is not “interested” in Atlanta University is because the Georgia Tech Republicans invited the NRA to North Avenue. Does AU have a Republican Club? If so, are any of its members also NRA??
You have to be 21 to apply for a Concealed Weapons Permit. It takes months to take the class, assemble the documents, and wait for your application to be approved. The number of GT students who would actually get a Permit is minor, but the student body would no longer be government- sanctioned victims.
Tech Student
January 15th, 2012
12:47 am
The crimes that have occurred on campus, as well as off, this semester are horrendous and unacceptable. However, allowing [even licensed] students to carry guns around is not a solution to our problem. If you look through the 10-15 Clery e-mails sent out over the past months, I challenge you to find one where a) the victim would have a carry license or b) where said license would have prevented the crime.
Furthermore, there are plenty of Tech students that do have guns on campus – I know, almost as shocking as freshmen that keep alcohol in their dorms.
The GT administration and student government is best-equipped to address campus safety, and needs to make a serious effort in the coming months to do that. Members of the General Assembly, please find some other way to please the NRA lobbyists.
Small Fry
January 15th, 2012
3:27 am
Very intelligent idea. As Tech grad alumni, fully support open and concealed carry anywhere/everywhere as the world is cold, dark, harsh, dangerous. Few years ago, after countering an ATM robbery, having home broken into, bullet fly by my head, criminals waiting for you, wild dog attack, timber wolf encounter, saving people, can tell you firsthand that students, professors, staff, employees, visitors, public need to be armed (with any/everything they can carry to protect themselves). Anyone who tells you otherwise is a fool, idiot, manipulating you, or worse. Simple. Also, 9mm not enough (used to carry Beretta 92 w 15 & 30rd mags at Tech). May wish to consider the .45 w +P+ .
Small Fry
January 15th, 2012
4:06 am
A Snyder, Emory and Tech are fine schools for your children to attend. Children are safer at schools where concealed weapons are allowed. Please understand that just because a school allows weapons does not mean they will be used. Look at crime reports/studies from Washington, DC that show results when people are unarmed (crime rates escalating >800%).
hey windsor-detroit . . .
January 15th, 2012
4:59 am
detroit-windsor (above 10:59 a.m.), meet el paso-juarez
Interesting read – two cities, less than 1000 yards apart:
El Paso, in Texas with its reasonable laws allowing firearms carry and Juarez, Mexico where firearms are outlawed and only criminals have guns:
“For the first time the City of El Paso has been named the City with the lowest crime rate in the United States with a population of over 500,000 residents. Since 1997, El Paso has been ranked in the 2nd or 3rd spot of Safest Cities by this independent study.”
http://www.elpasotexas.gov/
“The Department of State has issued this Travel Warning to inform U.S. citizens traveling to and living in Mexico of concerns about the security situation in Mexico, and that it has authorized the departure of the dependents of U.S. government personnel from U.S. consulates in the Northern Mexican border cit[y] of Ciudad Juarez. . . . Recent violent attacks have prompted the U.S. Embassy to urge U.S. citizens to delay unnecessary travel to parts of Durango, Coahuila and Chihuahua states (see details below) and advise U.S. citizens residing or traveling in those areas to exercise extreme caution.”
http://www.visitelpaso.com/visitors/mexico
Small Fry
January 15th, 2012
5:51 am
@sheepdawg, crime is increasing. Example, I do not want to see students robbed, flogged with galvanized iron pipe, sodomized with bent/rusted 1″ rebar, sliced/carved with broken bottles, pummeled with masonry implements, whipped with 4′ x 2″ hose end set with 20d 4″ commons, and so on. If you think items of the above nature are not used in current society, think again. Police may not be able to or desire to protect students. Hope you will understand why folks on campus need ability to protect themselves.
Edward Ruffin
January 15th, 2012
7:24 am
Constitutional Carry is a Constitutional right which has been abridged by the feds and by local governments all across the fruited plane.
Cobb Republican
January 15th, 2012
10:04 am
Ann Synder ….. In your home state, Washington, carrying firearms onto college campuses and into college buildings is LEGAL. However, some colleges have “rules” prohibiting guns by students but it is not a crime to violate the rules.
A person SMART enough to know......
January 15th, 2012
10:15 am
Cobb Republican funny you answered my question and Ann Snyder didn’t ever respond. She RAN her mouth and didn’t even know the laws in her state.
Michael in Georgia
January 15th, 2012
11:12 am
As for the lady in Maine the 18 year that are not mature enough to have gun I would disagree because they go into the service and then we think as country that their mature enough to asked to kill for you freedom. If you are old enough to have gun, go to war, and defend the country then you are old enough to defend yourself. Age is not what determine ones maturity. O by the way I am not 18 I near retirement age.
John Roycroft
January 15th, 2012
1:47 pm
Mrs Norman, you have no clue what you are talking about. You sound like a typical ignorant no nothing. Not once, not ever has any student legally armed with a concealed carry permit on any college campus in any state been harmed or used their weapon improperly. The facts are there for anyone to see. More campus policing will not protect students. It will only take one instance of an armed student stopping a robber with a deadly gunshot to end the rampant violence on campus. As far as the crime at the AUC, it doesn’t compare to the crime which has taken place over the last 2 years at Ga Tech and GSU. If the folks at AUC are that concerned then why aren’t they taking action to resolve their issues? The cold hard facts about the Ga Tech and GSU crime is the location on the border of an area running rampant with crime which happens to be committed by a high majority of young black men. It’s their culture of violence that is the problem. Citizens with concealed carry permits do not commit the crimes. The sooner a student kills one of the ghetto punks the sooner this will be a non story. http://wp.me/p17r6L-1JY
Mr. Thomas Anthony Jones, Sr
January 15th, 2012
1:52 pm
The most important Amendments to the United States of Amerika Constitutional are the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 24th, and the 2nd. Without those everything else can not work. The United States of Amerika Congress and its entire federal, states, of local have no whatsoever authorty to take away your weapons. The Second Amendment is the Law of the Land and if you want 35 Ak-47 Kaslishnikov Assault Rifles, get 35 ak-47 Kaslishnikov Assault rifles. I have seen cops driving around South DeKalb as lost as a bunch of jaybirds. Who do trust to protect your, the cops or you. Buy guns and ammunition and Get Ready. Somebidy is going to die. Do you want it to be you, Sucker?