Mike
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http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/2008/08/24/coned_0824.html
No place should be ‘off limits’ for the law-abiding
By JOHN MONROE and ED STONE
Sunday, August 24, 2008GeorgiaCarry.Org
’s mission is to foster the civil right of its members to bear arms. While the phrase “bear arms” is familiar to most people from text of the Second Amendment, GCO’s mission is focused on the notion that people have an inherent right to self-defense that is firmly rooted in our history.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms, based on a human right of self-defense that existed before the Constitution was ratified. There has been a gradual erosion of this human right in Georgia stemming from racial politics during Reconstruction and the early 20th century. GCO seeks to undo this erosion.
Enlarge this image
John Monroe is a member of GeorgiaCarry.org.
Enlarge this image
Ed Stone is a member of GeorgiaCarry.org.
EDITORIAL:
• Concealed-weapons argument safely obscures gun facts
Aside from requiring white men to carry firearms to church, Georgia had virtually no gun control until after the Civil War, when civil rights were extended to the recently freed slaves.
Today, 48 states issue licenses to carry firearms concealed, but only Georgia has them issued by a judge. The majority of states do not require any license at all to carry a firearm openly. Georgia is in the minority, prohibiting the carrying of pistols openly without a license.
Georgia has the dubious distinction of prohibiting the licensed carry of firearms in more places than most other states, thanks largely to the 1870 “public gathering” law, which by its vagueness has been interpreted to include many places not specifically listed. Ironically, the “places off limits” most “sacred” to gun control advocates are the very places where the most sensationalized mass shootings have occurred: schools (Columbine, Virginia Tech); churches (Tennessee Valley Unitarian in Knoxville); courthouses (the Brian Nichols case in Atlanta); and restaurants (Luby’s Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas).
Each of these places was “off-limits” for law-abiding citizens to carry guns. Violent criminals do not pay attention to gun bans.
In this year’s legislative session, GCO actively supported HB 89, which represented a major step in reversing the erosion of rights Georgians have experienced for 130 years. Those with firearms licenses now can carry their firearms in state parks, restaurants that serve alcohol, wildlife management areas and on public transportation.
Unfortunately, it is still a crime for a person with a license to carry a firearm “to or while at” a public gathering, which “shall include, but shall not be limited to” churches, political rallies, sporting events and publicly owned and operated buildings. GCO supports relaxing this list because we believe it is morally reprehensible to put good people in jail simply for having a firearm in the “wrong” location.
Those who oppose relaxing the list of “off-limits” places downplay the fact that license applicants must undergo three separate state and federal fingerprint-based criminal background checks, which weed out people who have even a misdemeanor drug conviction.
Moreover, there is not a shred of evidence that a training requirement would serve any purpose other than burden both license applicants and the government employees processing the applications. The only study on the subject shows that states that do not require training are just as safe as states that do. Fulton County, the state’s most populous county, has not revoked a single firearms license this year or last year. If the untrained holders of licenses were engaged in the random acts of violence feared, their licenses would be revoked as provided by law.
In truth, training requirements are a red herring, something brought up by those intent on making it harder, more expensive and more burdensome to obtain a license, but with no real desire to improve safety. GeorgiaCarry.Org seeks a different path. We believe that law-abiding Georgians have a human right to carry the firearm of their choice for any reason other than to harm innocent people while doing so, and we will work tirelessly toward legislation that will promote that goal.
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/2008/08/24/coned_0824.html
No place should be ‘off limits’ for the law-abiding
By JOHN MONROE and ED STONE
Sunday, August 24, 2008GeorgiaCarry.Org
’s mission is to foster the civil right of its members to bear arms. While the phrase “bear arms” is familiar to most people from text of the Second Amendment, GCO’s mission is focused on the notion that people have an inherent right to self-defense that is firmly rooted in our history.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms, based on a human right of self-defense that existed before the Constitution was ratified. There has been a gradual erosion of this human right in Georgia stemming from racial politics during Reconstruction and the early 20th century. GCO seeks to undo this erosion.
Enlarge this image
John Monroe is a member of GeorgiaCarry.org.
Enlarge this image
Ed Stone is a member of GeorgiaCarry.org.
EDITORIAL:
• Concealed-weapons argument safely obscures gun facts
Aside from requiring white men to carry firearms to church, Georgia had virtually no gun control until after the Civil War, when civil rights were extended to the recently freed slaves.
Today, 48 states issue licenses to carry firearms concealed, but only Georgia has them issued by a judge. The majority of states do not require any license at all to carry a firearm openly. Georgia is in the minority, prohibiting the carrying of pistols openly without a license.
Georgia has the dubious distinction of prohibiting the licensed carry of firearms in more places than most other states, thanks largely to the 1870 “public gathering” law, which by its vagueness has been interpreted to include many places not specifically listed. Ironically, the “places off limits” most “sacred” to gun control advocates are the very places where the most sensationalized mass shootings have occurred: schools (Columbine, Virginia Tech); churches (Tennessee Valley Unitarian in Knoxville); courthouses (the Brian Nichols case in Atlanta); and restaurants (Luby’s Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas).
Each of these places was “off-limits” for law-abiding citizens to carry guns. Violent criminals do not pay attention to gun bans.
In this year’s legislative session, GCO actively supported HB 89, which represented a major step in reversing the erosion of rights Georgians have experienced for 130 years. Those with firearms licenses now can carry their firearms in state parks, restaurants that serve alcohol, wildlife management areas and on public transportation.
Unfortunately, it is still a crime for a person with a license to carry a firearm “to or while at” a public gathering, which “shall include, but shall not be limited to” churches, political rallies, sporting events and publicly owned and operated buildings. GCO supports relaxing this list because we believe it is morally reprehensible to put good people in jail simply for having a firearm in the “wrong” location.
Those who oppose relaxing the list of “off-limits” places downplay the fact that license applicants must undergo three separate state and federal fingerprint-based criminal background checks, which weed out people who have even a misdemeanor drug conviction.
Moreover, there is not a shred of evidence that a training requirement would serve any purpose other than burden both license applicants and the government employees processing the applications. The only study on the subject shows that states that do not require training are just as safe as states that do. Fulton County, the state’s most populous county, has not revoked a single firearms license this year or last year. If the untrained holders of licenses were engaged in the random acts of violence feared, their licenses would be revoked as provided by law.
In truth, training requirements are a red herring, something brought up by those intent on making it harder, more expensive and more burdensome to obtain a license, but with no real desire to improve safety. GeorgiaCarry.Org seeks a different path. We believe that law-abiding Georgians have a human right to carry the firearm of their choice for any reason other than to harm innocent people while doing so, and we will work tirelessly toward legislation that will promote that goal.