Georgia’s legislature recently passed a law (which still requires the Governor’s signature) which would loosen the gun control laws in the state, and would allow people to carry guns almost everywhere: schools, restaurants, hotels, and in nearly all public places. Of course, there is one exception to this rule: guns cannot be carried into government buildings, like, say, the places where the representatives and senators work, ostensibly out of a fear for their own safety. If these people do truly believe that guns make life safer, if they believe that adults being allowed to carry concealed, loaded weapons into schools would make life safer for the children in those schools, then they ought to abide by their standards and allow guns in government buildings, because, of course, they too will be safer.
But I am not advocating for this law at all. The idea of guns being allowed to be carried in schools, when just over a year ago teachers and children were shot and killed at Sandy Hook school in our own state of Connecticut, is appalling. Guns would also be permitted in bars so long as the person with the gun is not consuming alcohol, but enforcing the law would be a nightmare, as the guns, of course can be concealed. Will bars need to start stamping the hands of those who come in just to see who is unarmed and can consume alcohol? Short of imposing measures like those, this law would provide even more opportunity for guns and people who are not of sound mind to mix—and people who are inebriated are usually not of sound mind, as many a student here can testify. The likelihood of one person defending the bar against a random shooter seems far smaller than the likelihood of a bar fight escalating far beyond fists because one or more of the participants is armed. The second amendment allows us to bear arms, but guns are inherently tools of destruction, and these tools have no place in public areas where many innocent bystanders could be injured or killed. The Georgia congress should look after the safety of the public as well as they do for their own.