Why are state legislators worried about getting guns onto college campuses and into churches and bars when the fiscal sky is falling all over them?

Here we are in the midst of a deep recession that has drastically reduced state revenues, forcing the governor and legislature to cut in all directions.

Balancing the budget should be the priority of all members of the General Assembly: where to cut, how to cut, how deep to cut as well as whether to increase tobacco taxes and end tax holidays. And maybe even close loopholes and eliminate assorted tax breaks?

You would think the budget crisis needs all the attention our solons can muster.

But here we have Sen. Mitch Seabaugh, Republican whip in the Senate, whipping up support for a bill to expand gun-carrying rights all over the landscape.

The bill would let restaurant owners, churches and other private property owners decide if they want to allow people with permits to tote guns on the premises or not, while the Board of Regents would set policy for college campuses.

"I believe the government does not have a place in telling private property owners what to do as far as the Second Amendment is concerned," Seabaugh said.

Right. And a lot of people don't believe the government has a place confiscating our money through taxes, either. So, Senator, why don't you come up with a bill to repeal taxation?

Anyway, Georgia citizens have the constitutional right to carry guns, stash them in every room of their houses and arm themselves to the teeth on their private property.

But that's not the same as privately owned public places - restaurants and bars and churches for example - and publicly owned public places including college campuses.

College presidents and the Board of Regents - who have responsibility for the safety of the thousands of students on their campuses - are opposed to this bill. They have every right to be worried that its passage would create new dangers for students, faculty, staff and anybody visiting their campuses.

As Regents spokesman John Millsaps said, "We still prefer the current law that prohibits guns in our classrooms, prohibits guns in our laboratories, prohibits guns in our dormitories and prohibits guns at our athletic events."

Any reasonable person must agree.

The law now prohibits carrying firearms within 1,000 feet of schools and colleges. Seabaugh says that's confusing because campuses in downtown Atlanta have murky boundaries, per the AP report.

What's murky about this is the thinking that more guns in public places are better - and the bill's provision to strip county probate judges of the authority to issue gun licenses and centralize the power in the secretary of state's office. This is Republican?

At least Gov. Sonny Perdue is not ready to support any more bills dealing with gun rights vs. private property rights. If this off-target bill gets through the legislature, Perdue should shoot it down with a fast-draw veto.

dmckee9613@aol.com