Georgia Supreme Court strikes down professors' challenge to campus gun laws

Caption

The Georgia Supreme Court.

Credit: John McCosh/Georgia Recorder (file photo)

Five state university professors have lost their challenge to a Georgia law allowing weapons on campus.

The professors argued that the 2017 law violated the Georgia constitution because lawmakers usurped the Board of Regents' authority to govern the university system.

In their unanimous ruling, however, justices ruled that the lawsuit was moot because the board adopted a weapons policy consistent with the law after lawmakers approved it.

University of Georgia geography professor John Knox, a plaintiff in the case, said that just means the regents have the final say — and are the ones he'll lobby next.

"The buck stops with the Board of Regents," he said. "And so the next step is to encourage the board to go for a more common-sense educational policy with regards to weapons."

Knox says the policy allowing weapons on campus has some exceptions, including classes with dual-enrolled high school students.