The Michael Bloomberg-funded group, Everytown for Gun Safety, is running a 30-second television ad in Georgia, urging residents to ask their state senators to oppose gun rights on college campuses.
The ad began running on March 7 and is focused on stopping the campus carry bill HB 859. The bill would allow students with concealed carry permits to carry a gun for self-defense anywhere on campus, except dormitories, sorority and fraternity houses, and athletic events.
According to Fox 5, the Everytown commercial suggests college students may not be up to the task of carrying a gun for self-defense.
The commercial’s narrator says, “College tests a student’s judgment and responsibility. And sometimes students make bad decisions, especially when alcohol is involved.” The narrator closes the commercial by saying, “Tell your state legislator, college students, guns, and alcohol, don’t mix.”
Everytown’s suggestion that campus carry will lead to danger misses two important points.
First, people will have to have a concealed carry permit in order to carry on campus, which means the youngest will be 21 years old. They won’t be three months removed from high school.
Second, campus carry is the law of the land in eight states: Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Oregon, Texas, and Kansas (the law takes effect in TX August 2016 and takes effect in Kansas July 1, 2017).
Moreover, campus carry is an option that each university system can choose to allow or disallow in 23 other states. The National Conference of State Legislatures lists those 23 as “Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.”
Where is the bloodshed in these 31 states? Where are the concealed carry permit holders who are making bad decisions and shooting the place up? They are no where to be found because the predictions of misbehavior and violence on the part of concealed permit holders are statistically unfounded and historically disproved.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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