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Georgia Tech's school safety zone renders its students and employees vulnerable
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(AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
Following the column this week about Atlanta's gun free zones and the rash of robberies around Georgia Tech's campus, several Georgia Tech students and employees made their opinions known about the subject. most were not willing to be identified.
Jason Allgood is not so timid. Jason reported that he walked through the same spot as the last reported robbery just a few hours after it happened, while it was still dark outside.
Here, below, is a portion of the robbery report.
On 3/30/2009 at approximately 11:26 p.m., two Georgia Tech students were robbed at gunpoint in the mechanical Enguneering Alleway, near the Skiles Classroom Building Walkway and rossland Library. According to the victims, the offender approached them from behind and produced a silver semi-automatic handgun . . .
The suspect is still on the loose. Jason is out at dark because he is a productive employee, and he arrives at work when it is still dark outside so as to get an early start on the day. His duties also take him all over campus at odd hours, including the areas where the recent robberies have occurred.
Under normal circumstances, he would carry a gun discretely. "I don't leave my house without a sidearm unless I am going to work," said Jason. He firmly believes a firearm would make him saer on campus, but the felony school law deters him in from carrying the means of self defense even as it ironically emboldens the violent predators that prey on Georgia Tech's disarmed student body and employees.
Jason is not lacking in physical courage. Even unarmed, he chased down a thief last year. When the police took the thief into custody, they discovered that the thief was armed with a knife. Looking back,
Jason does not bring his firearm onto the school property, even in the car, because he is concerned that, unattended, his firearm may end up in the wrong hands. "Vehicle break-ins occur nearly constantly even in decks that have cameras." His own vehicle has been broken into twice on campus.
Not content to leave things as they are, Jason is a member of the NRA, a Lifetime Member of GeorgiaCarry.Org, and is exploring getting involved with Students for Concealed Carry on Campus. He insists that he would carry his pistol to work "in a heartbeat" if HB 615 passes in Georgia next year. Many of his coworkers feel the same way, although few were willing to be named in an article.
Georgia law places students in an even worse situation than employees, as it forces students to surrender their right to bear arms completely if they wish to earn a college degree. One student commented that he is armed at all times when outside the "school safety zone," but that he must stop at home and disarm if he is driving into the school safety zone, which extends 1,000 feet from the school. That is because Georgia law makes it a felony for a student with a firearms license to enter the school safety zone with a firearm, even if that student is merely visiting a friend of business and not actually entering campus property. The same student grumbles about leaving the library late at night, unarmed.
At least two women reported being stalked and complained that the school safety zone law denies them the only reasonable means of defending themselves against a larger, stronger aggressor. Neither woman wanted to be identified for fear that her stalker might see her name.
A male student at an Atlanta area technical school who recently witnessed a stalker being ejected from the school commented:
I am a Vietnam era veteran with grown children of my own. I just don't understand why the law strips me of my means of self defense just because I am at school, or traveling to or from school.
Georgia's school safety zone law is affecting numerous law abiding individuals with good reason to wish to exercise their right to bear arms on campus. At the same time, it is having no discernable effect on the criminal population that preys upon these students and empoyees. Perversely, the "school safety zone" law ensures the "safety" of armed criminals, not students and employees.
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