Day 10: Gun Control

Day 10: Gun Control

Monday 02/04/2013. Tenth day of the Georgia Legislative Session. The rumor in the hall today was gun control. During the week off after the inauguration of President Obama and MLK Day, a bill asking to allow guns in universities and colleges in Georgia took the attention of media. The bill is HB29, and it is sponsored by Rep. Charles Gregory(R-Kennesaw).

Last week we saw a different approach presented by the House Democrats in their Opening Session Press Conference: The Gun Safety Act, sponsored by Rep. Pat Garner (D-Atlanta). This bill will ask for strengthen background check requirements for the mentally ill who seek weapon permits. Also, we reported last week that Rep. Pedro Marin (D-Duluth) introduced HB120, which will ask for mandatory safety gun education when getting a pistol or revolver. We have heard the effort of other legislators in the works as well. Keep you posted.

We can see the both philosophies of gun control represented in these bills. On one side, we have Rep. Gregory asking for more guns for the ‘good guys’, whereas Rep. Garner and Rep. Marin support more education and control. GATech was used as a reference for the report linked to Rep. Gregory’s bill. GATech is well known for being a top-notch science university in the country, and for demanding very high levels of effort from their students. Would giving guns to stressed, overworked, sleep-depraved, sharp-intelligent students safer? Moreover, would having more guns out there make everybody safer?We just had a shooting incident in a middle school last week here in Atlanta. Thegun totter was a 15 year old teenager. Would have ‘good guys with guns’ in the middle school a solution?

Laws alone would not stop a disturbed shooter from getting a weapon. However, ‘getting a gun’ should not be the easiest item in the check list in the shooter(s) of Sandy Hook, Aurora, Columbine, etc., especially if getting a gun is the best chance we have to check a potential perpetrator. Tragically, evidence proves otherwise. Let’s work to change that.

(Thanks to fanpop for the pic)