State Sen. Jason Carter, D-42

Republican Gov. Nathan Deal signed a bill that broadens the rights of gun owners, a bill his Democratic challenger in the upcoming elections voted for.

State Sen. Jason Carter, D-42, in an April 21 MSNBC interview explained why he was the only Democrat in the Senate to vote for House Bill 60, called the “guns everywhere” bill by its critics. The bill will allow licensed individuals to carry guns in places like churches and bars.

“I think the 2nd Amendment is important to many people in Georgia,” Carter told interviewer Chuck Todd. “And I know a lot of national Democrats and others have been upset or angry about this, and I’ve heard from a lot of them. But, again, we worked the aisle to try to make the bill better than it was when it first started. I think we succeeded in that, but ultimately you’re talking about people who have a license to carry in a state where the 2nd Amendment is incredibly important.”

Todd asked whether Carter thought teachers should allowed to carry a gun to be prepared in the event a gunman walks into their school.

“I think what we’ve done is we’ve allowed communities to make those decisions for themselves,” Carter said. “There’s not an issue that I know of that’s more geographically polarizing than guns, and there are some communities in my state that will feel safer if their school districts are allowed to make those decisions and there’s other communities where they won’t, and those communities will get to decide for themselves.”

Here’s the video. Todd’s questions about House Bill 60 start about 4 minutes in.

Carter’s MSNBC appearance has been his only interview on the subject of HB 60, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Jim Galloway.

Galloway concluded, “Carter’s support for HB 60 and his silence are two parts of the same conundrum. He couldn’t cast a vote against the gun bill, but he doesn’t dare brag about it.” To read his column, click here.

While Carter has backed the gun bill, the two Democrats who are running for his senate released statements against it.

The day Gov. Deal signed the bill, both Elena Parent and Kyle Williams released statements condemning the new law.