Georgia Senators Advance Bill Strengthening State’s Firearm Preemption Law

Like most states, Georgia has a firearms preemption law in place that limits what localities can do in terms of adopting their own gun control measures. The current language states:

No county or municipal corporation, by zoning, by ordinance or resolution, or by any other means, nor any agency, board, department, commission, political subdivision, school district, or authority of this state, other than the General Assembly, by rule or regulation or by any other means shall regulate in any manner: (A) Gun shows; (B) The possession, ownership, transport, carrying, transfer, sale, purchase, licensing, or registration of firearms or other weapons or components of firearms or other weapons; (C) Firearms dealers or dealers of other weapons; or (D) Dealers in components of firearms or other weapons.

At first glance that statute may appear all encompassing, but the mayor and city council in Savannah claim that even with preemption in place they have the authority to regulate gun storage, since that isn’t explicitly mentioned in the law. The city adopted an ordinance last year requiring gun owners who store firearms in their vehicles to keep them locked up in a compartment that’s out of sight of anyone who might peek through the vehicle’s windows, and has continued to enforce the provision despite an opinion from Georgia’s Attorney General that the ordinance violates state law. 

Late on Thursday, however, the Georgia State Senate approved a bill that would halt these efforts to get around the preemption statute. 

The Georgia Senate just struck a major blow against anti-gun mayors trying to trample on your rights!

SB-163 passed 33-23—cracking down on local gun control schemes by raising the fine from $100 to $50,000 for cities that break Georgia’s preemption law.

For too long,… pic.twitter.com/8MTcVc6roM

— Sen. Colton Moore (@realColtonMoore) March 7, 2025

SB 163 doesn’t just increase the financial penalties for localities that violate the preemption law. It also amends the preemption statute to specifically prohibit political subdivisions from regulating the storage of firearms as well, which should put a stop to Savannah’s ill-conceived and legally dubious ordinance.. at least if the House follows suit and sends the bill to Gov. Brian Kemp for his signature. 

“That creates a lot of violent situations in a lot of these cities and ultimately, the second amendment is there to protect law abiding citizens from things like violent crime,” Moore told senators.

Democrats – who want to make safe storage the law statewide – said Moore’s bill was wrongheaded in light of Apalachee.

“What we need to do is we need to act now. Let’s show Georgians that we got the message after Apalachee, after that horrible school shooting,” Sen. Elena Parent (D-Atlanta) told senators.

Republicans instead passed Moore’s bill – which would make cities vulnerable to lawsuits from gun owners who claimed the lock boxes violated their second amendment rights.

“The irony and the disgustability that we keep invoking Apalachee,” said Sen. Jason Anavitarte (R-Dallas) before the vote, “is just ridiculous.”

The Apalachee High School shooting suspect’s father was indicted on murder charges after the incident, so its not like prosecutors don’t already have tools in their toolbox to go after parents who they believe willfully or negligently aided and abetted their children’s crimes. Whether or not those charges are warranted is another topic of discussion entirely, but I think its fair to say that with the option for felony charges already on the table, a local misdemeanor ordinance isn’t going to be of much use to prosecutors or provide much of a deterrent effect for the gun-owning parents of troubled kids. 

Democrats will undoubtably point to the Senate passage of SB 163 to proclaim that Republican lawmakers care more about guns than kids, but the truth is that this bill is about the rule of law. That’s something that both parties should care about, and not just when it suits their partisan or anti-2A purposes.