Over the weekend, Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 707, a bill that bans the concealed carry of handguns at California colleges and schools.
Senate Bill 707, by Sen. Lois Wolk, expands the prohibition on school and college grounds to include concealed weapons, while keeping the same rules in place for the 1,000-foot zone surrounding schools. Active and retire law enforcement officers are not covered by the law.
Here is a look at the Press Release from Senator Lois Wolk issued on Sept. 1, 2015 after the Assembly approved the legislation in a 53-24 bipartisan vote.
State Assembly approves campus gun safety bill on bipartisan vote
Law enforcement-backed bill limits concealed weapons on school and college campuses
SACRAMENTO –On a 53-24 bipartisan vote today the State Assembly approved legislation by Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis) to help control concealed weapons on school and college campuses. The measure, SB 707, would prohibit concealed weapons carriers from bringing their firearm on campus without permission from campus authorities.
“Many would be surprised, as I was, to learn that California law currently allows concealed firearms on any campus, even on an elementary school campus,” said Wolk. “With today’s Assembly vote, we are close to sending the Governor a common sense bill that will close this loophole in our Gun Free Schools Act, helping our school officials control firearms on their campuses.”
SB 707 includes an exemption for honorably retired law enforcement officers and reserve officers, who may carry a concealed firearm if authorized by their former agency. The bill also allows for police chiefs or school districts to adopt their own policies that may allow a concealed firearm on campus if they deem it appropriate.
“This bill puts control of firearms on campus grounds squarely where it belongs, with those public safety officials responsible for the safety of our students and staff on school or college campuses,” said Assemblymember Bill Dodd (D-Napa), who carried the measure on the Assembly Floor.
SB 707 is sponsored by the California College and University Police Chiefs Association. The bill is supported by a broad coalition of law enforcement and education organizations including the California Police Chiefs Association, the Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC), the University of California, California State University, the California School Boards Association, the California School Employees Association, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence and many others.
4 comments
Doing this sends a message to the wrong people. Another bad law. One more point for the bad guys.
Umpqua College is a “Gun Free Zone”. Look how well that worked!
Umpqua was “gun free” only in a symbolic statement sense.
CCW was and is allowed on the campus. In fact, I’m aware of one CCW that was interviewed the day of the tragedy. So the “good guy with a gun stopping a bad guy with a gun” thing didn’t exactly work as advertised.
Sorry, but just because you’re packing doesn’t mean you are going to overcome the element of surprise which comes with the territory when a wackjob goes off the rails. The better solution is to address the mental health issues feeding the problem and limit the access by those people. But the NRA is doing all in their power to neuter that idea. Cuts into the profits of the companies they lobby for.
This was the right thing to do. The only problem is its mostly symbolic because the last thing a criminal or mental illness individual worries about is breaking a law while committing murder.
Although its a tragiedy, We will never be able to legislate against this type of crime.
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