Six Georgia legislators have introduced a bill, HB 156, titled the “Georgia Constitutional Carry Act of 2017.” The bill would do away with prohibitions of carrying arms in parks, historic sites, or recreational areas, and changes references that allow the carry of arms from “license holder” to “lawful weapons carrier.”
The effect of the bill would be to allow people who may legally possess firearms to carry them in most public places. The current Georgia carry license is for both open and concealed carry.
The bill wouldn’t repeal the existing Georgia carry shall issue law, leaving it in place for reciprocity between the states, and to act as an alternative for the NICS check to purchase firearms.
Georgia is one of 25 Republican trifecta states. The Governor is a Republican and the GOP has majorities in both legislative houses. While Governor Nathan Deal was a Democrat until 1995, Nate Silver of the fivethirtyeight.com rated him the 4th most conservative in the country in 2013.
Governor Deal signed the Safe Carry Protection Act in 2014. It was a significant carry reform bill, in an election year. He also vetoed a campus carry bill in 2016. His final term ends in 2018.
Georgia Gun owners says they have over 100,000 signatures on a petition in support of constitutional carry in Georgia. Passage would make the Peach State the twelfth constitutional carry state in the nation joining Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Texas, Virgina, Utah, and Wisconsin.
©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
