The Red and Black

Issue date: 9/5/08 Section: Opinions

CHARLES BLACKBURN

While debate over whether or not to allow concealed guns on Georgia college campuses played out on the editorial pages of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, little has been said by those whom a gun control bill actually would affect - college students, faculty, staff and administration.

Last May, the Georgia General Assembly passed House Bill 89, which reversed bans on concealed weapons in state parks, on public transportation and in restaurants that serve alcohol.

Now our representatives in the state senate are considering a proposal to peel back decades-old restrictions on handguns in other places of "public gathering," including churches, schools, college campuses, athletic events and bars.

Proponents of reduced restrictions on "concealed-carry" handguns offer two fundamental rationales for their position.

First, they claim ordinary citizens, legally armed with a concealed weapon, could prevent illegally armed, mentally unbalanced people from perpetrating tragedies like Virginia Tech.

They claim those who apply and successfully receive a permit to carry are somehow inherently - or at least statistically - among the most responsible and safest citizens.

But as an AJC editorial points out, there are absolutely no records indicating that permit holders are exceptionally law-abiding.

In fact, a comparison between permit holders and a list of convicted criminals is impossible, since the General Assembly voted to make the list of permits secret from the public.

Even worse, Georgia does not require permit seekers to undergo any sort of firearms safety training, not to mention training to deal with dangerous scenarios such as Virginia Tech or lesser criminal acts.

While policemen and women spend months learning how to handle their weapons and the situations in which they must occasionally use them, some lawmakers want to put an entirely untrained and unskilled citizen pseudo-police force on the streets and in classrooms - in crowded bars and at sporting events where even good-natured rivalries easily can lead to open hostility.

Handguns downtown or in Sanford Stadium during the Auburn game? Are you kidding me?

Second, proponents of looser gun laws claim to be sticking up for the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms.

The real controversy surrounding this clause stems from the gun lobby's attempt to link it to every person's right to self-defense. But the right to self-defense transcends the Second Amendment.

For example, it also is closely tied to the Constitutional provisions that prohibit cruel and unusual punishment or unreasonable search and seizure, and which provide for national security.

My right to self-defense depends on much more than whether or not I can carry a gun.

If lawmakers care more about public safety than the interests of a select few gun owners and lobbyists, they have many better alternatives to choose.

Just on campus, University police presence could be increased, more emergency call-boxes installed, UGAAlert refined and bus service hours extended.

Mitch Seabaugh, state senator and chairman of the special firearms committee that is considering the new gun bill, has said, "I personally feel there are a lot of restrictions that should not be there."

The next firearms committee meeting is scheduled for Sept. 23 - plenty of time to let Seabaugh, or better yet, your state senator, know what you think.

It's time to start talking about this issue.

- Charles Blackburn is a junior from Roswell majoring in English.

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