FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Atlanta, GA):  The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus issued the following statement and released its letter written and delivered to Governor Nathan Deal in connection with the substantive reasons that campus carry should not become law in Georgia.

STATEMENT FROM THE CAMPAIGN TO KEEP GUNS OFF CAMPUS

“In May 2016, Governor Deal, wrote one of the most powerful statements against campus carry, in issuing his veto of the bill (HB859). The points he made – that campus carry is well outside longstanding tradition of the Second Amendment, that its potential costs give no good reason to alter course, and that campus crime can, and under his watch would, be addressed in much better ways – stand just as strongly in 2017. (See full letter)

Along the way, The Campaign points out how not just American history, but Georgia history shows campus carry has never been a Second Amendment right – and that no way of writing this bill can address Gov. Deal’s overarching doubts that this would address crime (and, for that matter problems of campus suicide and unintentional injuries) in a way that justifies going against history. We also point to a variety of initiatives showing how Georgia higher education has addressed – and, with still untried initiatives, can truly continue to combat – campus crime, and in a way that does not merely exacerbate it by allowing individuals to carry loaded, concealed weapons on Georgia’s higher education campuses.

In the waning days of the 2017 Georgia General Assembly session, with the fate of over half a million Georgia students, faculty, staff and visitors in the hands of legislators, we first call on the Senate to stop HB 280 and any similar legislation that will contradict Governor Deal’s cogent veto message, and if they fail in this mission, we implore Governor Deal to veto campus carry again this year.”

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ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN TO KEEP GUNS OFF CAMPUS

The Campaign to Keep Guns off Campus was founded in 2008 to urge colleges and universities to band together to oppose the gun lobby’s agenda to push loaded, concealed guns onto college campuses. To date, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and more than 420 colleges and universities in 42 states have joined the Campaign. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Contact:

Kathryn Grant, State Affairs Director, [email protected]

Andy Pelosi, Executive Director,  [email protected]  (914-629-6726)