Some Georgia Republicans Seek to Add New ‘Gun-Free Zone’ to State Law

I remember back when carrying concealed in Georgia was a good bit trickier than it is now. The list of prohibited places was a good bit more extensive than it is these days–not quite like New York or California is at the moment, but not nearly as far from it as many would like to think. Gun rights proponents and the GOP legislature worked very hard to change that.

Now, the only places off-limits are churches, K-12 schools, and some public buildings.

But it seems a handful of Republican lawmakers are trying to add to that list. It’s not a lot, mind you. Just one building. 

It just happens to be the Georgia World Congress Center.

HB 472 would authorize the Georgia World Congress Center Authority to prohibit firearms in much of the property under their authority.

Yes, this is the same Georgia World Congress Center that will host this year’s National Rifle Association Annual Meeting.

While I’m doubtful that such a bill would go into effect before the doors open for the NRA crowd, it’s still more than a little troubling that this is happening.

Especially since, as I noted, this bill is sponsored by Republican lawmakers. Reps. Rick Jasperse, Clint Crowe, Ron Stephens, Marcus Wiedower, and Kimberly New all have an “R” after their names. The only Democrat who has signed on is Rep. Scott Holcomb. I’d expect this from a Democrat. From Republicans, I expect better.

It was bad enough when Republicans in Georgia weren’t interested in restoring gun rights. At least they were willing to hold the line against gun control as a whole. They weren’t pro-gun so much as anti-gun control, but that was better than nothing.

Now, though, we’ve got a bill seeking to place just one place on the list of sensitive places, and every sponsor but one is from the party that generally claims to support our right to keep and bear arms.

It’s a stark reminder that lawmakers need to be reminded that they cannot take gun rights supporters for granted. It’s bad enough when they think just holding the line is sufficient, but to actually try to take a step back and think no one would notice?

What’s more, there’s very little, if any news coverage of this. No one seems to be picking this disaster up. I was made aware of this one over the weekend, and so I looked into it and see that yeah, this is a big freaking problem.

Will it pass?

Honestly, I’m not sure it would. Even if they could get the votes in the House and Senate, Gov. Brian Kemp is pretty pro-gun in his own right. I’d be willing to bet that he’d veto it.

Yet the fact that these legislators think they can get away with something like this is troubling.

Well, I know Georgia Second Amendment knows what’s going on and I can safely say they’re none too pleased by what they’re seeing out of the legislature right now, and that’s not limited to this disaster masquerading as proposed legislation.

It looks like it’s time for some people to get primaried.