Second Amendment Protection Act of 2008

(1/10/08 ) The NRA-backed parking lots gun bill will go quickly to a public hearing after the 2008 Legislature convenes next week, and could reach a vote before the full Senate perhaps as early as the first week but more likely by the second week, Senate Rules Chairman Don Balfour said . . .

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(Another bill also has entered the fray. Rep. Tim Bearden’s HB 915 would leave business owners alone to determine their own guns-in-cars policies, but would take a number of other steps important to defenders of the 2nd Amendment. Supporters of that measure held a rally at the Capitol earlier Thursday that drew an estimated 150-200 people.)

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A great many changes were made to the bill. Bad news first - while GCO has been lobbying hard to have section 4 (public gathering clause repeal) inserted into HB 89 today, in the end we were unsuccessful. GCO did not know for sure whether we would beunsuccessful until about halfway through the hearing, but we want you to know that we were working hard on this - and your contacts with Senators made this task possible at all. However, most of HB 915 made it into the bill, as you will see below.

Here is what happened withthe final version that passed out of the Senate Rules Committee, which should be online for your review sometime tomorrow. The NRA parking lots provision has been watered down substantially, with a requirement of a firearms license now and language protecting the rights of private property owners. Frankly, GCO is still digesting what today's version means. The Georgia Chamber of Commerce and a lobbyistrepresenting another business group were not ready to support it, but had complimentary things to say about the changes.I think everybody but the NRA needs time to figure out what the new version means. I am not sure the NRA knows what it means, either.

Most of HB 915 is now a part of HB 89. This does NOT include the following: public gathering provision (section 4), schools, unlicensed open carry, and Katrina Bill. Everything else was amended into the new substitute bill, including the provisions on firearms licenses being issued in 45 days. In addition, anamendment was added thatmakes it legal to carry into state parks andhistoric sites with a firearms license.The bill will now go to the Senate floor.

And so ends day 2 of the legislative session.

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GeorgiaCarry.org is pleased that the Georgia State Senate saw fit to include by amendment many provisions from Representative Timothy Bearden's HB 915 within the substitute HB 89 that passed the Senate this afternoon. GCO strongly supported the first iteration of HB 89 introduced in 2007 by Rep. Bearden, which is now contained in Section 3 of the version that passed the Senate. The additional provisions added this week directly from HB 915 provide meaningful protections to law abiding Georgians seeking a firearms license and to law abiding but unlicensed Georgians driving with a concealed weapon in their automobile. In addition, GeorgiaCarry.org is pleased that the Senate version will decriminalize possession of a firearm by a licensed Georgian in State Parks, Historic Sites, and Recreational Areas so that Georgians can protect themselves while hiking and camping.

But GeorgiaCarry.org believes that there is much more work to be done. As Sen. Chip Rogers recognized during the floor debate today, Georgia has more places off limits to carrying a firearm than California. GeorgiaCarry.org takes seriously Sen. Rogers's stated commitment to look closely at removing Georgia's onerous criminal restrictions on Georgians with firearms licenses. HB 915, pending in the Georgia House of Representatives, addresses these issues.

GCO has been hearing from you that things have come to a conclusion any changes on the right to bear arms this session. This is only day 4! GCO has many irons in the fire and is working behind the scenes on several alternative strategies for repealing more criminal laws that put places off limits.

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The House voted 111 to 50 this afternoon to amend HB 89 to remove public gatherings from Georgia law and send HB 89 back to the Senate. In place of the public gatherings law will be a restriction on carrying only into certain prohibited buildings.

Under HB 89 as amended today - Removed from Georgia's gun ban list will be churches, restaurants, and public gatherings generally. In addition, under the bill as amended, carry will be permitted on mass transit, parks, and wildlife management areas.

But this bill has a long way to go!

When the Senate passed HB 89, the Senate vowed to kill HB 89 if the House made any further amendments. The House obviously made further amendments today. But a very important thing has changed in the meantime. Some of the Senate opposition to amendments stemmed from the NRA's position on the issue, and the NRA, as of yesterday, supports the amendments that the House just made to the bill. This will help on the Senate side.

If this bill is successful in the Senate (and on the Governor's desk), 137 years of Georgia's "public gathering" Jim Crow law will be erased from Georgia statutes.

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