In Georgia, it soon will be legal to carry a gun in more places - including bars, churches and government buildings - after Gov. Nathan Deal’s signing Wednesday of a bill celebrated by supporters as a victory for the Second Amendment but decried by critics as the “guns-everywhere bill.”
“We Georgians believe in the right of people to defend themselves, and we believe in the Second Amendment,” Deal said. The measure drew national attention because of its sweep and its passage after a number of high-profile shootings around the country.
The Safe Carry Protection Act, which takes effect July 1, will allow licensed gun owners to take firearms into houses of worship if the congregation allows it, into bars unless the owner objects, into nonsecure areas of airports, and into government buildings, except past security checkpoints.
The Georgia Municipal Association opposed the bill, saying in a letter to the governor said it worried the measure could increase local governments’ security or insurance costs.
The National Rifle Association called the legislation the “most comprehensive pro-gun bill in Georgia state history.” Jerry Henry, executive director of GeorgiaCarry.org, a group that pushed for the bill’s passage, said by phone that the law will “give the law-abiding citizen more protection in more places.”
The law also would permit schools to arm staff members and lower the age from 21 to 18 for active members of the military to obtain gun licenses. It would forbid the confiscation of firearms during an emergency, a response to authorities taking guns in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The measure also would offer defendants an “absolute defense”in court if a gun is used in the face of a violent attack.
“This bill is about the good guys, you guys,” bill sponsor Republican Rep. Rick Jasperse told a crowd at the bill signing. “Amid all the misinformation and emotions, one must remember that this bill isn’t about irresponsibly arming the masses. This is a bill about safety and responsibility.”
The gun debate has intensified in the wake of high-profile gun violence in recent years, such as the 2012 shooting rampages at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., and at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
Since the beginning of the year, six states have strengthened gun laws while six states, including Georgia, have relaxed restrictions, according to the San Francisco-based Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Four states have enacted laws that strengthened some regulations but eased others.
On Wednesday, Deal said the Georgia legislation would “protect law-abiding citizens by expanding the number of places they can carry their guns without penalty, while at the same time this bill respects the rights of private property owners who still set the rules for their land and their buildings.”
That would include bar owners, who could post that firearms are not permitted in their establishments.
At the Somewhere in Augusta Bar & Grill, where a sign is posted on the front door reading “No Weapons Permitted,” co-owner Cynthia Fiske said she doesn’t like the idea of guns in bars.
“When people are drinking, tempers can flare high,” she said.
The governor received 3,012 letters, emails and phone calls urging him to sign the bill and 1,887 asking him to veto it, according to his office.
“To say that we’re disappointed is an understatement,” said Kathryn Grant, Georgia state director of the Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus, a national movement to keep guns out of colleges and universities.
Some religious leaders also expressed concern about the bill. Asked how the new law reflected what is happening in Georgia, Raphael Warnock, senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, responded: “In a word, insanity.”
“The mother of Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed in our sanctuary in 1974 while playing the Lord’s Prayer one Sunday morning,” he said. “She was killed by a deranged teenager who had access to a gun but not enough access to mental-health care. Forty years later, I think that problem is exacerbated by the signing of this law.”
But Mike Griffin, public-affairs representative of the Georgia Baptist Convention, expressed support for the legislation, saying it lets churches set the rules for themselves.
The bill passed largely along party lines in the House and Senate. The most prominent Democrat to back the bill was state Sen. Jason Carter, who is running against Deal for governor.
Carter, the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter, reiterated his support for the Second Amendment and noted he had worked to improve the bill to “ensure that places of worship have a real choice on whether to allow guns on their properties.”
Information for this article was contributed by Richard Simon of the Los Angeles Times and by Christina A. Cassidy of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 04/24/2014