ATLANTA — Gun violence at schools or elsewhere hasn’t moved Georgia lawmakers to pass most of the 30+ gun bills that are pending this legislative session.
Gun bills in the legislature tend to be among the most contentious and the most reliably ignored – especially if the bill seeks to curb gun rights in any way.
When this year’s legislative session opened in January, a quiet group of sign-holding activists established a long-term presence in the Capitol to lobby for a bill that would require gun owners with children to store their guns in locked boxes.
"To me, it’s no different than requiring seat belt laws or helmet laws or fence around the pool laws. There’s absolutely no difference. It’s not infringing on anyone’s Second Amendment right," pediatrician Claudia Fruin previously said on the 2023 session's first day. "I'm a gun owner myself."
That bill is one of some 30 gun bills introduced and mostly ignored during the legislative session – the vast majority introduced by Democrats.
Most of these bills haven’t even had a hearing in the Republican-led legislature.
"We all believe in the constitution our God-given right, the second right amendment, as a law-abiding citizen to bear arms," State Rep. Emory Dunahoo (R-Gillsville) said. "What we find is, no matter what law we put on the book, it’s not going to stop the person with evil on their mind. I tell people all the time, 'A gun is a tool. A knife is a tool. A hammer is a tool."'
Dunahoo is among the gun rights advocates in the legislature who view with suspicion bills to restrict gun rights. Democrats have introduced a half dozen bills to require safe storage of firearms in homes or cars. Republicans passed a bill to suspend sales taxes on the purchase of gun storage safes, though it includes no requirement to actually use them.
Democrat Al Williams said Republicans have been unwilling to compromise on gun bills – even with mass killings, even with shootings at schools.
"We’ve got to fix this thing in the way politics used to be," said State Rep. Al Williams (D-Midway), who says he's a gun owner. "You give up something, I give up something. And in the middle we meet, we agree to something. Now everybody locks in their heels and say it’s my way or the highway."
Recently, Democrats introduced HR 139, a measure to create a study committee on how to prevent mass shootings. Even that resolution – which would not change the law at all – has gotten no traction.