Sunday, May 04, 2008
News

Georgia: The special of the day is a .38 special

 

 

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (center) holds a news conference on gun control July 10, 2007 on Capitol Hill.
CREDIT: Alex Wong/Getty Images

No Guns Allowed

Of the 31 states that already have concealed weapons carry permits, 11
allow businesses to decide for themselves to prohibit concealed weapons licensees from carrying guns on business premises. They are:

1. Alaska
2. Arkansas
3. Kentucky
4. Louisiana,
5. Mississippi
6. North Carolina
7. Oklahoma
8. Tennessee
9. Texas
10. Virginia
11. West Virginia

SOURCE: The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence

By Mark Woolsey

      While other states and localities around the country are advancing legislation to crack down on illegal gun purchases and trafficking while turning back efforts to expand concealed-carry rights, the Peach State may soon allow you to pack heat in a slew of new places, thanks to proposed concealed weapons legislation.

     House Bill 89, awaiting action by Governor Sonny Perdue, would allow concealed-carry permit holders to bring weapons into restaurants serving alcohol, as well as parks and wildlife management areas and even on public transportation. It would also allow permit holders to keep guns in their vehicles on any publicly accessible employee parking lot, and would expand areas in which gun owners may keep a weapon within their vehicles. Currently guns are restricted to such areas as the glove box, the dash area and in plain view.

      The “an armed society is a polite society” crowd hails the bill as expanding lawful gun-owner rights and bringing us into line with most other states. Gun control advocates worry about increased vigilantism, angry ex-employees gunning for bosses, bystanders caught in crossfires, business-owner liability and more citizens out-firepowering law-enforcement officers.

        Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and a clutch of political and business leaders last month urged a veto via a news conference.

       But the bill’s legislative backers see no problem with combining a Smith & Wesson, with, let’s say, a gin and tonic, though the bill does decree anyone packing in a restaurant can’t also be drinking.

       “Georgia has perhaps the most restrictive gun laws in the nation,” asserts State Senator Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock, who sponsored the bill in the Senate. “We prevent people who have gone through extensive background checks from being able to exercise their constitutional right to protect themselves.”

An invitation to vigilantes

        GeorgiaCarry.Org, a gun rights group, says the bill, if signed, would make Georgia the 38th, 37th and 44th states, respectively, to allow permit holders to carry in restaurants, in parks and on public transit.

      Rogers sees no evidence that expanding conceal-and-carry locations would lead to wild shootouts at restaurants or on a MARTA train.

      “There’s no evidence to suggest that that’s happening in other states,” he says. “I don’t know why it would happen here.”

       But to gun control backers like Brian Malte, director of state legislation and politics for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence in Washington D.C., the notion of guns in booze-serving restaurants is a more dangerously potent mix than a Long Island Iced Tea.
      
“You are talking about people who have minimal or no training in firearms use, and certainly not to the degree law enforcement has,” says Malte. “You are expecting regular citizens to make judgment calls in difficult situations.”

      Speaking of which, he says, what about law enforcers who might roll up on a resultant gun battle: How do they separate the good guys from the bad in split seconds?

      Virginia Governor Tim Kaine vetoed a guns-in-alchohol-serving-restaurants bill this year, citing widespread opposition from both the hospitality and law enforcement communities.

      Overall, says Malte, there seems to be a groundswell developing in many of the 50 states to restrict guns, following successes by such gun-rights advocates as the NRA during the ’90s. He says the renewed push defines the gun debate as a law-enforcement, rather than as a Second Amendment, issue.
     “In the late 90s,” he says, “we were chasing the NRA’s tail,” as the gun lobby was able to persuade a number of states  to loosen carrying restrictions. “Now, it’s turned around. There has been an escalation in gun violence across the country, and at the same time the prevention movement is larger than ever before, and more unified. You have mayors and even governors speaking out against gun violence.”

Businesses can decide to ban guns from property

    But, even if the proposed law gets the governor’s approval, that doesn’t mean all businesses have to allow guns on the premises. According to a Brady Center report titled “Guns and Business Don’t Mix,” in all 31 states that allow the concealed carry of weapons, “private property rights, trespass laws, and the rights of employers to determine simple terms and conditions of the workplace, enable businesses to adopt a gun-free policy despite the new laws.”

Moreover, such a policy can easily be implemented, by putting up signs at entrances and placing a provision in employee manuals.

      Rogers points out that Second Amendment rights take precedence, and the benefits of protection outweigh concerns about employer rights or restaurant and mass-transit shootouts.

      Take the parking lot provision.

     “Say a woman has a protective order against an ex-boyfriend, and she’s not allowed to keep a firearm locked in a vehicle on her parking lot at work,” says Rogers. “If she goes to the police, they’re going to tell her to get a firearm, because the boyfriend knows where she works and she feels threatened. That’s a real-world example.”

       As to whether the bill will make it past Governor Perdue’s desk, he’s made his leanings clear, telling a reporter in an April 9 press session that as “a general supporter of gun rights,” he’d take a hard look at the bill.

      He continued by saying that he “did have some concerns” and had heard from the hospitality industry in great measure.

      “I hope it’s something I can sign. If not, I’ll regretfully veto it.”

      The group Georgians for Gun Safety is among those bringing pressure to bear.

      “We are not anti-gun,” says President Alice Johnson. “We believe people have a right to defend themselves. Gun owners and concealed weapon permit holders are just like anybody else. The vast majority are not felons, nor have they ever been committed to a mental institution. But there are plenty of people who get drunk on Saturday night and get into road-rage arguments on the highway. Other people get depressed and their lives take a turn over things they can’t control. Others don’t score too high on intelligence tests. And the problem is, those people are just as likely to have permits.” SP