On Tuesday, California Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-Plumas Lake) is introducing legislation to help protect domestic violence victims by carving out an exception for them to carry a gun for self-defense on college campuses.
Gallagher’s bill, Assembly Bill 2340, would allow “victims of domestic violence to carry guns on campus if they possess a protective order and a valid concealed weapons permit.”
According to the Los Angeles Times, Gallagher argues that his bill is necessary because “domestic violence victims are some of the most vulnerable people in our community.” He stresses that “without protection, domestic violence victims would be left defenseless against an attacker on or near school grounds.”
A case-in-point took place in New Jersey on June 3, 2015, when an unarmed Carol Bowne was allegedly stabbed to death by a violent ex-boyfriend against whom she had a protective order but no gun. To be clear, Bowne was stabbed to death in her own driveway, rather than a college campus, but the situation is analogous because it shows what can happen to a domestic violence victim who is forced to remain vulnerable due to state-sponsored gun control laws.
California had campus carry for all concealed carry permit holders until last year, when state Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis) pushed Senate Bill 707 to end the practice by claiming that concealed permits are too easy to get in California. Governor Jerry Brown (D) signed the campus carry ban in October, a little more than a week after a gunman at Umpqua Community College in Oregon shot and killed nine innocents on a campus where students were banned from carrying guns for self-defense.
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.