{"id":79984,"date":"2022-04-12T20:26:22","date_gmt":"2022-04-13T01:26:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=79984"},"modified":"2022-04-12T20:26:22","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T01:26:22","slug":"79984","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=79984","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

And then there were 25<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Gov. Kemp signs bill allowing concealed carry of handguns without a license<\/a><\/p>\n

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Standing outside Gable Sporting Goods in Douglasville, where Gov. Brian Kemp said he bought his daughter Lucy\u2019s first handgun, the governor signed a bill that allows Georgians to carry concealed handguns without first getting a license from the state.<\/p>\n

Making good on a 2018 campaign promise<\/a>, Kemp signed\u00a0Senate Bill 319<\/a>, referred to by backers as \u201cconstitutional carry.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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SB 319<\/a>\u00a0allows a \u201clawful weapons carrier\u201d to carry a concealed handgun everywhere\u00a0license holders currently are allowed<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 meaning guns would still be prohibited in places such as the secured areas of airports or government buildings that have security at the entrance, including the state Capitol.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A lawful weapons carrier is defined as anyone who is now lawfully allowed to have a gun. The bill went into effect upon his signature.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Kemp said he was signing the bill because it was what was right for Georgians.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no doubt that we are in challenging times,\u201d Kemp said, citing increasing violent crime rates across the state.<\/p>\n

Kemp said permit-less carry was another of several steps he\u2019s taken to tamp down crime, citing legislation he\u2019s pushed to increase penalties on people convicted of illegal street racing and human trafficking.<\/p>\n

Law-abiding Georgians should not have to go through the process of getting a license to carry concealed handguns, Kemp said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople don\u2019t have to carry if they don\u2019t want to,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cBut this is a constitutional authority that people have, and they certainly shouldn\u2019t have a piece of paper from the government to be able to legally carry a weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n

People who have been convicted of a felony or are facing felony charges, have been treated for mental health or substance abuse issues within the past five years, or have been involuntarily committed to a mental health hospital would still be prohibited from purchasing and possessing handguns.<\/p>\n

For years, gun rights advocates have pushed to rid the state of its licensing process, but the proposal picked up steam this year when Kemp \u2014 who faces a stiff GOP primary fight for reelection \u2014 said he supported passing permit-less carry legislation.<\/p>\n

Kemp endorsed a similar firearms measure during his 2018 campaign, which also featured the headline-grabbing\u00a0TV ad<\/a>\u00a0that showed him pointing a shotgun toward a stammering actor playing as though he wanted to date Kemp\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n

In the three years after his election, Kemp did little publicly to push permit-less carry at the Legislature, until former U.S. Sen. David Perdue\u00a0declared he would challenge the governor<\/a>\u00a0for the state\u2019s highest office. Perdue accused Kemp of being a \u201ccareer politician who hasn\u2019t delivered\u201d for gun rights advocates or backed other cultural issues popular with the party\u2019s conservative core.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe fought to protect the constitutional rights of every person in this state and we won,\u201d said state\u00a0Sen. Jason Anavitarte, a Dallas Republican<\/a>\u00a0who sponsored SB 319.<\/p>\n

While pursuing permit-less carry is considered a play for GOP voters, a poll by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier this year found that about\u00a070% of Georgia voters<\/a>\u00a0polled do not believe Georgians should be allowed to carry a concealed weapon without first obtaining a license. Of those, 54% of respondents who identified as Republican and 60% of those who said they were conservative\u00a0opposed allowing handguns to be carried without a permit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Law enforcement officials are\u00a0split<\/a>\u00a0on the idea and declined to take an official stance on the bill as it made its way through the Legislature.<\/p>\n

Supporters of the measure say it removes an unnecessary barrier to their constitutional right to carry handguns.<\/p>\n

Long guns can already be carried without a license. Georgia has not required training to get a license. There is no waiting period in Georgia when buying a gun. And those who don\u2019t have a license must undergo a background check when purchasing guns from stores.<\/p>\n

Georgians seeking to\u00a0carry a concealed handgun<\/a>\u00a0have had to apply for a license with their local probate court or sheriff\u2019s office (depending on the county), get fingerprinted, submit to a background check, and pay a fee up to $75. Now that Kemp has signed SB 319, that requirement goes away.<\/p>\n

Background checks still would be necessary when purchasing a handgun from a store or a dealer.<\/p>\n

The state permitting process would remain in place to allow Georgians to take advantage of gun carry \u201creciprocity\u201d with other states, an agreement that allows gun owners to carry concealed handguns in states that offer the same permissions.<\/p>\n

Opponents said Republicans are pushing legislation to remove the handgun licensing process to play to the GOP base. They said the permit process has screened out some who don\u2019t have the legal right to carry a gun. Without it, there will be nothing to stop those people from carrying a gun and potentially committing violence.<\/p>\n

At a press conference featuring some state Democratic lawmakers before the governor signed the bill, state\u00a0Sen. Donzella James of College Park<\/a>\u00a0called Kemp\u2019s support of the legislation a campaign tactic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho is he serving with this bill?\u201d James said. \u201cSome say he\u2019s serving himself by pandering to special interest groups and the far-right pro-Trump base.\u201d<\/p>\n

And some Democrats said removing the licensing requirement could work in their favor in November.<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath told canvassers at a Gwinnett County park who were preparing to go door-to-door to promote her campaign that Republican-backed \u201cpermitless carry\u201d legislation will help motivate more Democrats to vote. McBath, whose teenage son Jordan Davis was murdered in 2012 in an argument over loud music, added in an interview that Republicans are embracing the expansion at their own peril.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t be fooled into believing that the American public isn\u2019t paying attention,\u201d she said. \u201cThey see exactly what is happening. And they know who is in favor of protecting their families and their communities. And they know who isn\u2019t. And they\u2019re going to see the difference at the polls.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And then there were 25 Gov. Kemp signs bill allowing concealed carry of handguns without a license Standing outside Gable Sporting Goods in Douglasville, where Gov. Brian Kemp said he bought his daughter Lucy\u2019s first handgun, the governor signed a bill that allows Georgians to carry concealed handguns without first getting a license from the … 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":[79,8,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government","category-rkba","category-self-defense"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79984","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=79984"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79985,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79984\/revisions\/79985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=79984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=79984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=79984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}