The resplendently-bearded Michael Stipe has been all over the place lately, covering Bowie a bunch of times and actively stumping for Bernie Sanders. Continuing to put himself out there politically, he just penned an Op-Ed in USA Today urging Georgia governor Nathan Deal to veto a bill that, if passed, would allow for concealed carry of guns on college campuses throughout the state. REM was, of course, formed at the University of Georgia, so this subject, as he explains, hits close to home.
Like many other Georgians, I am worried about how guns on campus would affect college life. I worry about what it means when loaded guns are allowed at a tailgate where alcohol is being served. I’m concerned for survivors of sexual assault, who may soon have to face an armed assailant at the time of the crime and again at their disciplinary hearing.
I’m worried about classrooms. If students are debating a contested subject – which is crucial to learning and expanding their worldviews – I worry what will happen to that open and honest conversation when the participants know that the people around them could have loaded guns in their backpacks.
Read the whole Op-Ed here.