Should Lawmakers Aim at Gun Laws in 2014?

A proposal that would have allowed firearms to be carried in churches, college campuses and in bars died on the vine as the 2013 legislative session ended on Thursday.

House Bill 512, which garnered much support across the state, sailed through the Georgia House of Representatives. However, its upper chamber counterpart, Senate Bill 101, could not muster enough support to pass before the close of the session.

The issue over whether or not to allow firearms on the state's nearly 50 colleges and university campuses brought down the bill. However, supporters of the bill and the campus carry provision are confident the bill will return in 2014.

A Kennesaw legislator was among those who pushed legislation that if enacted would have lifted bans on carrying weapons in specific places within the state. Republican Charles Gregory was the primary sponsor of House Bill 28 and House Bill 29; the former aimed to take out the state’s restriction against carrying a weapon into a church or place of worship, while the latter sought to lift the restriction against carrying a firearm onto a “campus of any public or private technical school, vocational school, college, university, or institution of postsecondary education.”

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Though neither bill made it in front of representatives for a vote, HB 512 included provisions with the same intent as Gregory’s legislation.

Should the Georgia legislature re-introduce a bill expanding where firearms can be carried in 2014?

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