There’s a time-worn phrase that goes with politics — “The buck stops here!”

An event of last Tuesday might well be — “The absurdity stops here.”

Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed that bill that would have allowed college campus gun carrying with certain criteria, of course.

As someone in our Rants and Raves column today noted, it’s a little scary that the bill got to his desk in the first place.

There has been no public outcry for this law and particularly there has been no demand by students and faculty for this law. Perhaps the reason for that lack of public outcry is that for the most part the students and faculty are more enlightened than many of those who passed this bill.

The understood rationale, as lame as it may be, for this proposal was that given the violence on campuses, being allowed to carry a concealed weapon would provide added security to our college campuses. But arguments for that reasoning are little more than supposition. 

As well, keep in mind that some state lawmakers probably supported this bill knowing full well that the governor would discard it once it reached his desk. Those lawmakers could still go back to their constituents and say that they “tried their best” and gain some political capital from those voters. They played the game.

Deal summed it up well in these statements: “If gun violence on college campuses was the motivation for the bill, the General Assembly should consider stiffer penalties for unauthorized possession or use of firearms on college campuses. 

“If the intent of HB 859 is to increase safety of students on college campuses, it is highly questionable that such would be the result. 

 “From the early days of our nation and state, colleges have been treated as sanctuaries of learning where firearms have not been allowed. To depart from such time honored protections should require overwhelming justification. I do not find that such justification exists.”

A good day’s work, governor.