Guns at church, college next on Georgia lawmakers' agenda

State lawmakers are looking into making it legal for people with firearms-carry licenses to take their guns into even more places in Georgia.

The move comes on the heels of House Bill 89, which became law on July 1 and lets people with firearms licenses to carry guns into state parks, restaurants that serve alcohol and on mass transit.

Lawmakers could next push legislation allowing license holders to take their guns to church, or even onto college campuses.

"I personally feel there are a lot of restrictions that should not be there," said Senate Majority Whip Mitch Seabaugh (R-Sharpsburg), chairman of a Senate committee that began studying the state's gun laws Tuesday.

"People who get these [carry] permits are extremely law-abiding citizens," Seabaugh said. "Those who have no regard for the law are carrying guns anyway."

Seabaugh's committee met the day after a federal judge rejected a motion to allow those with carry licenses to take firearms into non-secure areas of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

City officials have declared the airport a gun-free zone. That led to the lawsuit by gun-rights group GeorgiaCarry.org and state Rep. Timothy Bearden (R-Villa Rica), sponsor of House Bill 89.

The lawsuit is moving forward. U.S. District Court Judge Marvin Shoob's ruling only addressed whether those with permits could carry guns into the airport while the lawsuit makes its way through court.

Seabaugh said state firearms laws are confusing, especially parts banning guns in or near public gatherings.

GeorgiaCarry.org President Ed Stone and Bearden spoke before the committee, made up of five senators, all of whom supported House Bill 89. The front row of the meeting room was filled with men wearing orange and black buttons that read "Guns save lives."

Alice Johnson of Georgians for Gun Safety said the meeting lacked objectivity.

"We don't disagree there should be some comprehensive changes," she said after the meeting, "but what we saw was only one side having the chance to express themselves.

"Firearms on college campuses and schools, those are some very serious issues."

Stone told the committee "there is no reason for disarming an adult attending educational facilities."

Bearden sponsored a bill this year, which didn't gain traction in the House, that would have allowed people to carry guns onto college campuses. Last year, discussion of allowing guns on campuses was stalled by the Virginia Tech shootings, which occurred during the 2007 session.

Committee member Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock), said after the meeting that he supported allowing permitted guns on campuses but recognized lawmakers may face a constitutional roadblock.

Georgia's public universities are independently governed by the Board of Regents. Because that independence is built into the Georgia Constitution, the General Assembly may not be able to easily force a change on campuses.

University System lobbyists attended the committee meeting. University System spokesman John Millsaps later said the Regents support the current ban.

Guns in churches may be an easier change for legislators to make.

Coweta County Sheriff Mike Yeager told the committee that permit-holders generally aren't lawbreakers.

"We don't have the problems from the people who take the time to get the [carry] license," he said. "Those are the ones we don't worry about too much."

But Johnson, the gun safety advocate, questioned how police officers would know the difference if faced with someone carrying a weapon.

"The idea that somehow law enforcement can make a distinction between someone who is intending to commit harm and someone who is intending to defend other people, that's a false distinction," she said. "That's not something law enforcement can figure out on the front end."

By James Salzer, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Lawmakers Consider Expanding Gun Laws

A month after a new state law takes affect giving concealed weapon permit holders more places to carry their guns, lawmakers consider expanding the list even further.

WSB's Sandra Parrish reports a Senate gun laws study committee is looking at other places where permit holders could carry their weapons including churches and schools.

"I would predict that the General Assembly make a recommendation to allow churches to make that decision whether they would allow those individuals to carry firearms on their property or not," says committee chair Sen. Mitch Seabaugh (R-Sharpsburg).

Lawmakers say the Board of Regents has constitutional authority to make rules on public college campuses and would not be subject to any law change regarding the right to carry.

Seabaugh says his committee may also look at the permitting process including the role of probate judges who issue the permits, permit holders or applicants who commit certain misdemeanors, and the requirement of gun safety courses.

A public hearing will be held on the public gathering aspect of the law on September 23rd at the State Capitol. Several more meetings of the committee will then be held prior to the opening of the 2009 legislative session.

Seabaugh says the committee's recommendations will drafted into legislation.

By: Sandra Parrish, WSB Radio

Sacramento police seize guns, ammo under new law

Sacramento police have seized 56 guns and more than 800 rounds of ammunition from convicts and gang members over the past year through an ordinance that tracks ammunition sales, officials said Tuesday.

The ordinance, passed in July 2007, requires city gun dealers to enter information on those who purchase ammunition into a Web site.

The city Police Department tracks the sales through that Web site and cross-checks the list with the names of city residents who are prohibited from possessing firearms, including felons and drug dealers. If police find those people with guns, they are arrested and the guns are seized.

City Council Member Kevin McCarty, who sponsored the ordinance last year, said the results show "we've made our neighborhoods a little safer."

City officials said the National Rifle Association has threatened to sue the city over the ordinance, claiming it is a violation of the Second Amendment.

City Attorney Eileen Teichert said she was confident the city could defend that litigation.

City police seized guns ranging from 50-year-old rifles to a high-powered shotgun labeled a "destructive device" by the federal government, police said. In the past year, 53 people have been charged with felonies related to the seizures, many of them in federal court.

Of the 74 people who purchased ammunition and were prohibited from having guns, 62 had felony convictions, 11 were second strikers and five were gang members, police said.

McCarty said the ordinance was "drafted with the second amendment in mind" and that city officials "shouldn't be bullied" by the threat of litigation to repeal the law.

Similar legislation is being considered statewide. Democratic Assemblyman Kevin de León of Los Angeles sponsored the measure after Los Angeles police saw people circumventing a similar city ordinance by buying their ammunition in neighboring cities. The bill is being held up in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

A study in Los Angeles found that 3 percent of those who purchase ammunition are felons, a number that adds up to 10,000 rounds of ammo a month, said de León's chief of staff, Dan Reeves.

"We're very strict on firearms, but it seems anything goes with ammunition," Reeves said.

Gun violence has become an increasingly visible issue in Sacramento.

While shooting deaths of teenagers are down this year, more people 21 years old or younger were killed by guns in Sacramento County in 2007 than in any year in the past decade.

"Dangerous weapons should be out of the hands of dangerous people," said Amanda Wilcox of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence's Sacramento chapter.

By Ryan Lillis, The Sacramento Bee