DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. (AP) — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp gained national attention in 2018 with a TV ad in which he pointed a shotgun at an actor playing a suitor for one of his daughters.
The Republican, then running as a Conservative insurgent, pressed his support for gun rights and proposed scrapping the requirement for Georgians to be licensed to carry a concealed handgun in public.
On Tuesday, facing a key Republican challenge from former US Senator David Perdue, Kemp completed his return to those roots and signed Senate Bill 319, which immediately allows license-free wear in Georgia, becoming the 25th state to have one Law and the 10th added over the past two years.
“SB 319 ensures that law-abiding Georgians, including our daughters, and your family as well, can protect themselves without having to seek permission from your state government,” Kemp said outside Gable Sporting Goods in Douglasville, where he said he previously bought one Pistol for one of his daughters. “The United States Constitution gives us that right, not the government.”
Republicans argue that requiring a carry permit, which costs about $75, violates Second Amendment gun rights. They also cite the approval of delays in some Georgia counties during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kemp’s endorsement of the permitless carry had softened after he took office. He supported some gun rights expansions, but said little about constitutional implications and did not mention the issue in his 2019, 2020, or 2021 State of State addresses. Republican House Speaker David Ralston shelved even a more modest gun bill in 2021 after eight people were killed in shootings at two Atlanta-area spas.
But in an example of how Perdue’s Donald Trump-backed challenge has forced Kemp to the right, he revived the requirement for constitutional carry in January, saying people must carry guns to protect themselves from crime.
Perdue told reporters Tuesday in Atlanta that he was “glad” that Kemp signed the law into law, but said the governor wasn’t doing enough to fight crime. Perdue cited lawmakers’ failure to allow the Buckhead neighborhood to vote on Atlanta’s secession, said Kemp has allowed state police to “deteriorate” and said Kemp should do more to arrest people who entered the country illegally be.
“It’s too bad it took four years to complete and it’s too bad it took me to get into the race for them to even put any energy into it,” Perdue said of the gun law.
Kemp denies he ever waived the issue and says he has to keep convincing lawmakers. “The votes weren’t there, but a lot has changed,” he told reporters after the law was signed.
Kemp’s support indicates a sharp divergence between the Republican and Democratic parties in Georgia this year on guns and other issues. There is little dissent within the Republican Party over expanding gun rights, while Democrats are keen to assert their claim for “healthy” gun regulation.
At an event before Kemp signed the law into law, several Democratic lawmakers slammed the measure as “criminal carrying” and said it would eliminate one of Georgia’s few deterrents that blocks people who shouldn’t be carrying a gun.
Under Georgian law, people who have been convicted of a crime, are facing criminal charges, or have been treated for certain mental health problems within the past five years are not allowed to carry a weapon. The new law doesn’t change that. But it does remove the background check for permission to carry a loaded or concealed handgun in public. Noting that more than 5,000 people applied for permits and were blocked over the past year, Democrats say police and the public will now be at risk of some of those people carrying guns.
“Yes, I believe in the Second Amendment,” said Sen. Donzella James, a Democrat from Atlanta. “But why are we making guns accessible to all?”
Democrats point to polls showing the measure is unpopular with a majority of the public and say Kemp has become a prisoner of his party’s right wing.
“It’s a sad day when Republican leaders across Georgia care more about their political position than about public safety,” said Assemblyman Roger Bruce, a Democrat from Atlanta.
The state would continue to issue concealed-carry permits to allow Georgians to take advantage of inter-state gun-carry agreements. Kemp also signed legislation Tuesday to improve reciprocity in Georgia for out-of-state gun owners.
Kemp signed the law into law a day after Democratic President Joe Biden announced new regulations on ghost guns, privately made firearms with no serial numbers. But Biden has made no headway in getting Congress to pass gun regulations, and the US Supreme Court may be poised to overturn New York’s more restrictive licensing system.
According to a 2020 analysis by the Rand Institute, there are no studies showing that laws without permission reduce violent crime, while it is uncertain whether the laws increase violence.
Even some gun control advocates say that laws in Georgia have already been so permissive that it’s unclear what will change without permits. Allison Anderman is Senior Counsel of Gifford’s Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, named for former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords, a Democrat who was shot outside a grocery store in 2011 and suffered a severe brain injury.
“I don’t know if we can really draw any conclusions,” Anderman said.
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Follow Jeff Amy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jeffamy.
