Subcommittee advances campus gun legislation

Critics oppose narrow exemption, call bill ‘dangerous proposal.’

The latest variation of the campus gun bill passed its first hurdle on Thursday as a House subcommittee agreed to move it forward.

House Bill 280 next goes to the full Public Safety Committee. It would allow anyone with a Georgia concealed weapons permit to carry firearms onto most parts of public college and university campuses, but not into dormitories or fraternity and sorority houses.

For the second day in a row the subcommittee met with limited notice. On Wednesday the panel heard testimony on a handful of bills as their sponsors scrambled to prepare testimony with an hour or less of advance warning.

Supporters and opponents had several hours’ notice Thursday and packed a tiny conference room in the Coverdell Legislative Office Building.

State Rep. Mandi Ballinger, R-Canton, the sponsor of HB 280, said this year’s version would prohibit gun owners from carrying weapons into an on-campus child care center. That was one of Gov. Nathan Deal’s concerns about the 2016 bill, which he vetoed.

But Andrea Teichner, a volunteer with the Georgia chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, said Ballinger’s child care exemption is “so narrow.”

It only applies, Teichner said, to one child care center per campus and has multiple requirements for security and access.

“I would submit this hasn’t changed at all,” Teichner said. “This is a dangerous proposal.”

BOB ANDRES / BANDRES@AJC.COM Rep. Mandi L. Ballinger, R - Canton, presents House Bill 280 to a subcommittee of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee. The bill is a revised version of last year’s “Campus Carry” legislation vetoed by Gov. Deal.