The AJC is reporting today that ”[a]fter two armed robberies on campus in just three days, Georgia Tech officials sent an e-mail alert to thousands of in boxes last week.”  These robberies, however, are the tip of the iceberg for Atlanta college campuses.  While campuses in general have experienced a decrease in crime, “urban campuses like Georgia Tech, Georgia State and those at the Atlanta University Center had higher incidents of both violent crime and property crime.”

GCO doubts that “email alerts” are going to provide any meaningful relief to students facing a violent criminal.  From the article, here are some examples of robberies in the last couple of weeks:

Students at both Georgia State and Georgia Tech were robbed at gunpoint this month. Two Tech students were held up early Friday morning while walking to a residence hall. Also last week, a Georgia Tech sophomore was robbed at knifepoint in the elevator of an on-campus housing complex.

How, exactly, is sending an email alert going to affect these crimes? 

The student, Andrew Hotchkiss, said . . . he was followed into the complex by a man last Tuesday afternoon, who then got on the elevator with him.

“He pulled out this knife —- it was like a foot long —- and told me to give him my money. It was pretty freaking scary,” he said.

Maybe it would not be so scary if he had received a text message from the school to reassure him.  In the wake of this violent crime against Mr. Hotchkis, campus officials are “installing turnstiles” and moving a police office “to a more visible area.”  GCO suspects the new location for the police office is probably not so visible from inside an elevator.

“At Georgia State, . . . campus police Chief Connie Sampson said community education and quick police responses are key.”  Why?  Did the police respond slowly to the armed robberies?  Is that why this is happening?

Perhaps the real reason for these robberies is Georgia’s law, O.C.G.A. 16-11-127.1, which makes it a felony for law abiding adults to possess weapons on campus, even at universities.  The result of this law is that violent predators know where to find disarmed, easy prey - just go to a local university campus.  Chief Connie Sampson has her heart in the right place, as she wants to arrest the robbers.  “‘Apprehending the suspects —- that’s the best deterrent,’ she said. ‘Then they don’t see [students] as easy pickings.’”

But they see the students as easy pickings because Georgia law guarantees that anybody on a college campus is “easy pickings.”  If O.C.G.A. 16-11-127.1 were to be repealed, the violent criminals would no longer see the students “as easy pickings” even when the police are not standing nearby.

The Supreme Court of Georgia voted 4-3 to deny a petition for certiorari to review the Court of Appeals’ decision establishing that probate judges may wait indefinitely for a “notification” that a background check has been conducted before issuing a GFL.  Justices Sears, Benham and Hines voted to grant certiorari.  The Court of Appeals decision now stands as the law in Georgia.  A copy of the denial of certiorari can be viewed here:

http://www.georgiacarry.com/moore/Denial of Cert.pdf

The City of Roswell has answered GCO’s complaint filed in Fulton County Superior Court, in which GCO seeks to have Roswell’s parks carry ban ruled illegal. Roswell denies having a parks carry ban, and denies that its ordinance reads as it currently is posted on LexisNexis, Roswell’s online code publication agent. Roswell’s answer may be viewed here:

http://www.georgiacarry.com/fulton_cities_parks/Answer of Roswell.pdf

GCO has written the attorney for Athens-Clarke County, asking him to recommend to the Mayor and Commission that they repeal their ordinance banning possession of firearms in parks.  A copy of the letter may be viewed here:

http://www.georgiacarry.com/athens_clarke_parks/Athens-Clarke County Attorney 9-14-07.pdf

According to an article this week in the Johns Creek Herald, the city of Johns Creek has agreed to comply with state preemption law and repeal the gun ban from its parks and recreation ordinance.  Due to assurances GCO recieved prior to filing suit,  Johns Creek was not included in GCO’s recent Fulton County lawsuit.  “‘We told [GCO] the dates we would be able to get it in front of council, so I guess he believed that we would follow through with what we said we would do, which is what we’re doing,’ said City Attorney Bill Riley.”  The amendment has already had its first reading before the council, and it is expected to be approved at the September 10 meeting.

The story does have one rather drastic factual error by the journalists, Caron Cooper and Jason Wright.  It states that the city’s “prohibition is directly in conflict with Georgia law that allows anyone to carry guns into parks.” (emphasis added).  No, our intrepid reporters, state law criminalizes the carry of a firearms by anybody, anywhere, without a firearms license.  A Georgia firearms license is issued only to applicants with clean criminal records and then only after intensive state and federal background checks, fingerprinting, and a finding of “good moral character” by the county probate judge.  Excluded from eligibility are all felons, some misdemeanants (including violent misdemeanors and domestic violence convictions), anybody with any misdemeanor drug conviction (no matter how long ago), those who have received in patient alcohol or mental health treatment within the past 5 years, and those who are in the country illegally.  Please see O.C.G.A. 16-11-129(b).

An August 23, 2007 news article in the Milton Herald chronicled the repeal of Milton’s preempted gun ban.

 At a special called City Council meeting Aug. 23, Milton’s elected officials voted unanimously to change the city’s parks and recreation ordinance to allow citizens to carry guns into public parks.

The move was a pre-emptive strike against a lawsuit filed Aug. 16 in Fulton County Superior Court by Fayetteville-based Georgiacarry.org, a lobby group dedicated to gun ownership rights. . . .

The city attorney, Mark Scott, stated that ”we’re taking care of it.”  The article properly notes that state law prohibits possessing firearms at public gatherings, such as sporting events.  The vote for repeal of the gun ban was unanimous.

 The reporter, Jason Wright, does make the claim that now “anybody” can legally carry a gun into a city park, which is demonstrably untrue.   A small percentage of the population with clean criminal backgrounds and firearms licenses are legally able to carry in city parks.

GCO Member Philipp Marx wrote to the Atlanta Journal Consitution on April 15, 2007, to respond to Cynthia Tucker’s column from April 8, 2007, criticizing the “gun lobby’s” fight against laws restricting the right to keep and bear arms.  Mr. Marx was not a GCO member at the time, but since he is now, I thought it might be appropriate to post his letter here.

May I assume that Cynthia Tucker inadvertently brings up a “textbook example” where (only) a gun could have saved the victim’s life?  As we know, in nearly all cases the police, or, in the mentioned incident, the security guard, may be able to apprehend the assailant - but rarely to prevent the murder.

Even Tucker should be aware of the “disparity of force” between a male and female. 

In other words: Even without a gun, the assailant is able to kill his estranged wife or girlfriend with ease.  All he needs is a knife from a nearby shop; nobody can prevent this, but the victim - if she is armed and knows how to use her gun.

It is a common misconception that just tightening gun laws would provide more security.

The country where I come from, Germany, has a virtual total ban on private gun ownership.  It has helped nothing to reduce crime; criminals still have guns, and atrocities committed with knives are very common.  After all, laws are made for law-abiding citizens, “a new gun law is just as ignored as any other laws” by those who never abide by laws.

Tucker doesn;t mention, either, that most police officers do not oppose responsible gun ownership by citizens.  They know, the police cannot fully protect all individuals. 

Disarming victims?  Not a good idea, to be at the mercy of criminals.

Philipp Marx, Buford

GCO member Mike Morton is on the front page of the Rome News-Tribune on Monday for requesting that the city of Rome comply with state law and repeal its illegal gun ban in city recreational facilities.  The city is inclined to do so, and the Public Safety Committee will hear this issue on September 18, 2007.  First reading of the repeal will be on October 1, 2007, and the second reading will be on October 15, 2007.

Thirty-one minutes after she was emailed a copy of a complaint being filed against her in federal court for refusing to accept GFL applications without SSNs, the Cherokee County probate judge’s office agreed to accept an application without the SSN.  The complaint has been modified to reflect that fact:

http://www.georgiacarry.com/county/cherokee_probate/complaint2.pdf