Will gun bill be shot down?

The campus gun bill returned to the Gold Dome this past week. Now, we’re waiting to see whether it faces a “High Noon” showdown with Gov. Nathan Deal.

This year’s bill, House Bill 280, is a lot like the measure Deal shot down last year.

It would still allow anyone 21 or older with a weapons license to carry a gun most anywhere on a public college or university campus. Dormitories, fraternities and sorority houses would be off-limits, and so would athletic events.

One new wrinkle: On-campus child care centers would also remain gun-free.

That’s a tip of the Stetson to Deal. Last year, the governor’s office sent out a statement that Deal wanted to see changes in the campus gun bill. The exception for child care centers was one of them.

He also said the state’s universities and technical colleges should be able to set their own rules about whether firearms could be brought inside faculty and administrative offices and to disciplinary hearings.

But the statement came out after the Legislature had already approved the bill. That was a little late in the process for some legislators, and they refused to consider legislation to accommodate any of Deal’s concerns.

The governor responded with a veto.

That was good to some (the Georgia chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America) and bad to others (the gun rights group Georgia Carry).

And it got ugly. The second Republican governor in modern Georgia history suffered a rebuke from his own party at its state convention in June. Republicans in the 3rd Congressional District even censured him, passing a resolution that said Deal has “amassed a long and terrible record of governing in association with liberal Democrats and crony capitalists” on a number of issues, including gun rights.

This go-round, state Rep. Mandi Ballinger, R-Canton, who filed HB 280 on Tuesday, said she considered Deal’s other suggestions but decided critics’ concerns were overblown.

“We need to permit people to defend themselves,” she said.

Like many a cinema gunfighter, Deal is keeping quiet.

The drive begins for cars without drivers

Nobody would be at the wheel, and that strikes state Rep. Trey Kelley just fine.

Kelley is the sponsor of House Bill 248, which would allow self-driving cars to operate on public roads in Georgia.

“I think the technology has changed, and I think the climate is prime here in Georgia,” the Republican from Cedartown said.

If HB 248 were to become law, Georgia would be joining five other states — California, Florida, Michigan, Nevada and Tennessee — and the District of Columbia in passing laws dealing with autonomous driving.

Lawmakers support recess — for others

A playground fight isn’t likely over this next bill.

State Rep. Demetrius Douglas, D-Stockbridge, wants Georgia’s schools to offer at least 30 minutes of “unsupervised, unstructured activity time” each day for children in kindergarten through fifth grade.

Douglas did his homework on this one. Everybody seems to love recess. His House Bill 273 has lots of schoolyard pals, both Democrats and Republicans.

Now that somebody’s looking after Junior, how about the rest of us?