{"id":77405,"date":"2022-02-13T00:23:02","date_gmt":"2022-02-13T06:23:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=77405"},"modified":"2022-02-13T00:24:29","modified_gmt":"2022-02-13T06:24:29","slug":"77405","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=77405","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Permit-less gun bill moves through General Assembly<\/a>
\n\u2018Constitutional carry\u2019 bill makes last stop before floor debate.<\/em><\/p>\n

ATLANTA \u2013 After years of unsuccessful efforts, gun rights advocates have never been closer to convincing the General Assembly to pass legislation letting Georgians carry concealed firearms without a permit.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo build a safer, stronger Georgia, we must ensure every Georgian feels safe and secure in their communities,\u201d Gov. Brian Kemp said during his State of the State address last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that starts with fully recognizing the constitutional rights granted to law-abiding Georgians in our founding documents, and I look forward to supporting constitutional carry legislation this session.\u201d<\/p>\n

The constitutional carry bill, sponsored by Sen. Jason Anavitarte, cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee Feb. 2 along party lines, with six Republican senators supporting it and three Democrats opposed. Its next stop will be the Senate Rules Committee, which is expected to send it to the floor of the chamber for a vote of the full Senate.<\/p>\n

“Our organization is grateful for Senator Anavitarte and his unapologetic support of the Second Amendment,\u201d Jerry Henry, executive director of the Georgia gun rights group GA2A, said in a statement issued after the committee vote. \u201cWe are one step closer to restoring the constitutional rights afforded to every law-abiding citizen in Georgia.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Legislative Democrats oppose\u00a0Senate Bill 319<\/a>\u00a0not only as an individual proposal but as part of a broader election-year push by Republicans to pass a laundry list of bills aimed at appealing to GOP base voters.<\/p>\n

In the case of the gun bill, Democrats say allowing Georgians to carry guns without a permit would increase violent crime. In 2020, at least 5,000 Georgians were denied a firearms permit because of a criminal history, a track record that would have gone undiscovered had no permit application been required.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy would we want to make it easier for those criminals to carry firearms?\u201d Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta, asked during the Judiciary Committee meeting.<\/p>\n

Republicans counter that requiring permits to carry guns only affects law-abiding Georgians because criminals don\u2019t bother to apply for permits.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe folks who are burdened by this process are those who are obeying the law,\u201d said Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia.<\/p>\n

Anavitarte, R-Dallas, said Senate Bill 319 would not change the laws governing who can carry firearms in Georgia or where they can bring them. It only pertains to the permitting process, he said.<\/p>\n

Anavitarte said 21 states have adopted constitutional carry laws, including Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, statistically among the states safest from violent crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn most [states with constitutional carry], crime has decreased or remained flat,\u201d he said. \u201cThe bill puts law-abiding gun owners on an even playing field with criminals.\u201d<\/p>\n

But opponents argue that kind of Wild West mentality where everyone is packing a weapon is not popular with law enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n

Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant expressed concern about the proliferation of guns on the streets of Georgia\u2019s capital city last month after a 6-month-old baby was shot.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuns intensify violent encounters \u2026 upping the stakes and worsening the outcome,\u201d Parent said.<\/p>\n

But gun rights advocates say the right to privacy from government intrusion is at stake.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is about freedom,\u201d Aaron Dorr of Georgia Gun Owners told members of the Judiciary Committee. \u201cIt\u2019s about [gun owners] not having to put their name in a database and be tracked by the government.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Permit-less gun bill moves through General Assembly \u2018Constitutional carry\u2019 bill makes last stop before floor debate. ATLANTA \u2013 After years of unsuccessful efforts, gun rights advocates have never been closer to convincing the General Assembly to pass legislation letting Georgians carry concealed firearms without a permit. \u201cTo build a safer, stronger Georgia, we must ensure … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-rkba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77405"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77408,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77405\/revisions\/77408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}