ATLANTA – Concealed carry license holders on Georgia’s public college and university campuses will be responsible for knowing where handguns are allowed under a new state law, according to the University System of Georgia.

The individual institutions will not place signage outside areas that are off limits to firearms, such as dorms and faculty offices. There will also be no gun storage facilities provided on campus. 

USG released its guidelines Wednesday for implementing a controversial campus carry law that passed this session and that Gov. Nathan Deal signed earlier this month. The law, which also applies to technical colleges, goes into effect July 1. 

 The memorandum, which was sent to colleges and universities across the state, clarified where firearms will continue to be banned. Handguns, for example, will still be prohibited at football stadiums, but not in tailgating areas or student recreation centers. 

It is also up to license holders themselves to find out from a school registrar if high school students are enrolled in a particular class where they intend to carry a gun. Firearms are not allowed in areas where high schoolers attend college through dual enrollment or other programs. 

Firearms are also still banned in student housing, any athletic venue where intercollegiate games are played, preschools as long as the rooms have controlled access, disciplinary hearing spaces and administrative offices. 

Chancellor Steve Wrigley requested patience from the university community. 

“We should work together to implement the law as written and thoughtfully address any complications that may arise,” he wrote in the memo. 

Institutions are also working on policy updates that reflect the new law. 

Margaret Venable, president of Dalton State College, told faculty and staff Wednesday afternoon in an email that “there will be necessary revisions in some of our policies and we will clarify the identity of our spaces and circumstances on campus that will be considered exceptions to the new law.”

Carrying a handgun in a banned area, or failing to conceal the firearm, is a misdemeanor offense. Offenders may also face consequences for violating a school’s student code of conduct and personnel rules. 

Rep. Dexter Sharper, D-Valdosta, who voted against campus carry, said he believes it will be difficult, if not impossible, to know whether the law is being followed since the handguns will be concealed. 

“You won’t know who has it or who violates (the law) unless something happens,” Sharper said Wednesday, referring to a fight or some other “negative situation” that may take place on a campus. “At this point all you can really do is wait.” 

But Rep. Jason Ridley, R-Chatsworth, argued that allowing handguns that are concealed will enhance safety on campuses. Proponents of campus carry promoted the legislation as a public safety measure. 

“It’s the unknown that deters these people from coming in and doing some heinous crime,” Ridley said. “It’s (not knowing) who in there possibly could have one.” 

Ridley said he believes the introduction of handguns to college campuses will prove anticlimactic and that few people are likely to even start bringing weapons on campus, since licensees must be at least 21 years old. 

He acknowledged, though, that adhering to the law might prove onerous to license holders, who are responsible for knowing where they can legally have a weapon. 

“They ain’t going to like it,” he said. “It’s just something that we’ve got to do for right now until we get this thing tweaked the way it needs to be.”