A controversial gun bill cleared a key committee Thursday and could be headed to the full House with two days left in the 2010 General Assembly session.
The bill, which the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee approved, would allow gun owners to bring their weapons into unrestricted areas of airports, bars where management agrees and in parking areas at colleges, courthouses, jails and prisons.
The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Mitch Seabaugh (R-Sharpsburg), has been stripped of provisions that also could have allowed permitted guns in churches and on most parts of college campuses, except dormitories. The campus provision had drawn strong opposition from the state’s colleges and universities.
The University System of Georgia still prefers the current law, which prohibits guns within 1,000 feet of a college campus or public school, spokesman John Millsaps said after the committee’s 9-6 vote to send the bill to the House with a “do pass” recommendation.
Seabaugh said he believes the bill is a “big step toward clarifying a law that law enforcement, judges and prosecutors have all complained is very confusing.”
“Is it perfect from my standpoint? No,” he said. “But I think the process has worked well, and I knew all along we’d have debate on policy as to what’s off-limits.”
The last major change in Georgia’s gun laws occurred in 2008, when state Rep. Tim Bearden (R-Villa Rica) pushed through legislation that allows permit holders to carry guns in state parks, on mass transit and in restaurants where alcohol is served. A provision, allowing guns in some areas of airports, was struck down in a court challenge.
Several members of the committee voiced reservations about some provisions, including one that allows bar owners to decide whether they want to permit guns in their establishments but doesn’t require them to post their policy.
Rep. Sharon Cooper (R-Marietta) said judges also have complained that a courthouse parking lot, where licensed guns would be permitted, is “one of the most explosive places.”
Seabaugh said law-abiding citizens are usually not involved. “A license to carry a firearm is not a license to commit a crime,” he said.
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