Sweeping Bill To Expand Ga. Gun Laws Could Force Atlanta To Sell Confiscated Firearms
Originally introduced last year, state Sen. Tyler Harper’s pro-gun bill contains several changes to Georgia’s gun policy.
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After two years of relative quiet on the state’s gun policy front, a sweeping pro-gun bill is moving forward in the Georgia Senate.
The proposed changes include making it harder to criminally charge people who brandish their guns, expanding access for licensed gun-toters to houses of worship and some courthouses and letting gun owners with minor drug convictions keep their carry licenses.
The bill could also force cities like Atlanta to sell the firearms their police officers confiscate.
Atlanta’s police chiefs have refused for years to resell the guns the agency confiscates despite a state law passed in 2012 that requires local governments to put them up for auction.
“Unfortunately, there’s situations in our state where the law is not currently being abided by. This is an attempt to try to address that,” said state Sen. Tyler Harper, who’s sponsoring the new bill.
Atlanta isn’t the only city that’s refused to resell confiscated guns, though it’s drawn attention for maintaining a vault containing thousands of them. Harper’s proposal would open up local governments across the state to legal action if they don’t auction off those guns once a year.
Firearms confiscated by law enforcement can be sold only to federally licensed dealers, which means buyers would ultimately be subjected to background checks.
The Atlanta Police Department said it does not comment on pending legislation.
A separate bill proposed by Senate Democrats would give local governments the option to destroy, rather than sell, confiscated guns, but its path forward in a GOP-dominated Legislature is likely to face obstacles.
Originally introduced last year, Harper’s pro-gun bill contains several other changes to state gun policy, including requiring houses of worship to actively opt out of allowing firearms on their property. Georgia law currently lets them opt in if they’re OK with people carrying guns.
The measure also clarifies that brandishing a gun might be OK in certain cases, rather than a felony aggravated assault.
“My argument is: Just because I have a weapon on my person and I show that weapon, I should not be charged with a felony — a 20-year felony at that — for simply brandishing my firearm in my attempt to de-escalate what I consider a situation where I feel threatened,” Harper said.
The bill would make a person doing that subject to aggravated assault charges only if the action is deemed to be offensive or threatening.
Harper’s bill would do away with the five-year suspension of a weapons license for people convicted of misdemeanor drug possession.
It would also allow licensed gun owners to be armed in some courthouses during periods when there are no active legal proceedings.
“There are instances where there are courts held — municipal court, for an example — where that municipal court may be only held once a month,” Harper told the Senate Judiciary Committee, which approved the bill on a 5-3 vote along party lines.
The bill would also reclassify antique guns so they’re not considered weapons, as well as allow licensed gun owners to carry knives in “transportation terminals,” a statute Harper said he considers an oversight.
His proposal would also remove the possibility that an “organized militia” can shut down the sale of guns and ammunition in an emergency situation.
Senate Bill 224 now awaits assignment to the floor by the Senate Rules Committee.
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