Georgia's Private Colleges - Beefing Up Security? © 2016 by Phillip Evans

Emory University in Atlanta, Mercer University in Macon, and Savannah College of Art and Design are all private institutions. 

I'm sure they take seriously the protection of their students, staff, and faculty from armed criminals and terrorists. The first two universities have their own police department. SCAD, if I am not mistaken, only has their own security personnel but not police department.

Ask any student of these campuses how long the wait time would be in the case of an active shooter or multiple shooters on campus. Try and get a specific answer, at least to the point of whether it would be measured in seconds or minutes. Ask what maximum wait time would be acceptable.

Then ask that student if he or she had the opportunity to be armed if and when an attack occurred, would they like to have the opportunity to be able to shoot back.

Some politicians will say that virtually no one will be trained enough and brave enough to run toward the location of active shooters, and therefore being armed would be useless. Really? How about if students huddled together in a room are not completely helpless? Perhaps firing a few bullets of their own by intended victims to stop an armed gunman bursting in could help put a stop to the carnage?

Folks, here's the bad news. HB 859 which will go into effect as law July 1st, 2016, only restores the right of self-defense using firearms to licensed students, staff, and faculty of PUBLIC colleges and universities in Georgia.

Private colleges and universities? Sadly, you are on your own.

Oh wait! Per HB 60 passed in 2014, if you are carrying a firearm in an unauthorized location, and you use that firearm in self-defense, you CANNOT be charged with any crime, even the crime of carrying in an unauthorized location.

Now, I'm not telling students, staff, and faculty of private colleges and universities who are licensed to carry, to carry their guns anyway contrary to the law. But I can tell you this, the charge would only be a misdemeanor if caught. It would be nothing if used in self-defense. I would rather live to face a jury of 12 than be carried by six and put six feet into the ground. But it's your life, and you ultimately decide how carefully you guard it.

You only have just the one life. Odds are, nothing will ever happen to you on campus. But wisdom that comes sometimes only with years of living says it's better to play the stakes, than to play the odds.

Perhaps it's only fair for human lives to be just as safe on private campuses as public campuses? I would say so. Be safe out there wherever you are. It's quite a gamble to depend on someone else to come to your rescue.

Georgia Welcomes You!

University of Georgia, Georgia State, Kennesaw State University, Georgia Tech, and others are excellent choices to get an education. Come July 1st this year, all students, faculty, and staff who are licensed to carry firearms either via a Georgia Weapons License, or via a reciprocal carry license from another state that you maintain legal residency in, may carry their concealed pistol in all campus locations of these public universities, except for dorms, frat houses, and at athletic events.