Georgia Democrats Call for Special Session to Combat Gun Violence | News

ATLANTA — In the wake of recent mass shootings across the country — including two in one week in Georgia — state Democrats are asking Gov. Brian Kemp to call a special session for lawmakers to deal with gun reform.

As of May 10, the Gun Violence Archive has documented nearly 210 mass shootings this year, in which four or more people were injured or killed. More than 20 mass murders in which four or more victims died have been documented.

A 24-year-old man was arrested May 3 after four people were injured and a woman killed at a doctor’s office in Midtown Atlanta.

Less than 24 hours later, a man in his 20s killed his mother, grandmother and manager at his workplace before taking his own life in Moultrie on May 4.

“We can’t live like this. The gun violence epidemic affects us all,” said James Beverly, minority leader in the Georgia House of Representatives. “Too many people have gone to churches, spas, doctor’s offices, grocery stores, malls, parks or concerts because of senseless gun violence and never come back home. The growing danger that someone could be next looms over all Georgians and our constituents no longer want to live like that.”

During a May 10 press briefing in the Capitol, Georgia Democrats called for a special session of the Legislature to consider some of their bills that did not get voted on in that session. A crowd of more than 100 people joined them, frequently shouting “Now! Now! Now!” and urged Republicans to pass a gun reform bill.

The Democrats’ priority bills include:

HB 44: Universal background checks for all gun purchases, including private gun sales and gun show sales

HB 135 and 161: Safekeeping laws that require guns to be locked away or securely protected from access by minors

HB 584: Alert laws that would allow family members or the police to petition the court to prevent someone deemed a threat from owning and purchasing a firearm.

A Red Flag law could have saved Janet Paulsen from gun violence. Paulsen, a domestic violence survivor, was helped out of her wheelchair at the Democrats press conference to tell her story.

Her husband, to whom she was married for 15 years, began to suffer from mental health problems associated with alcoholism and she eventually decided to divorce, despite threats of violence against her and their children.

“I received a restraining order. That command was given, but he was also a firearms enthusiast. So I came up with pictures of all the firearms and gave them the locations where they were. And I asked for them to be removed,” recalls Paulsen. “They caught them all, but they let him drive away in his truck with a 9mm gun and five days later he shot me with it.”

Paulsen said one day she arrived at her new home, where her ex-husband appeared to be waiting at the side of the house, and he attacked her as she was getting out of the car in their garage. She was able to escape and heard the shots as she ran.

“But I kept walking, and then he shot me in the leg again and I fell down in the middle of the driveway,” she said. “I saw him come within a meter of me and I saw him shoot me two more times. And I knew that the last shot had hit my spinal cord because I felt an electric shock go through my body. So he shot me six times.”

Paulsen suffered injuries to her knee, femur, abdomen, back, spine and side, and lost a third of her right lung, she said.

“I’m standing up here for those who didn’t make it because I’m the 1%. I didn’t know what that meant when my trauma surgeon told me I was the 1%,” she said. “He said, ‘Well, Janet, you were DOA when they brought you here. I had to crack your chest, clamp your heart, shock your heart with electrodes.’ and then he massaged it in his hand and my heart started beating again. And he said, “Once out of 100 times we do this procedure, it works.” That’s why I’m standing up for these 99 other people here.”

Elena Parent, Chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus, said many of the 16 gun reform bills presented in this session have been pending for more than a decade. None of them were passed before the end of the legislative session on March 29, and most of them did not get a hearing in any of the Republican-led committees.

“Each of us must do what we can because there is no single person, organization or policy that can solve the problem,” said Parent. “But in our legislative role, in my legislative role, I say that the scale of the carnage in our society needs to be addressed by the people who have been elected to set policy for this great Georgia state legislature — the governor and the Deputy Governor.”

Tennessee’s Republican Gov. Bill Lee recently announced his support for red flag legislation after a mass shooting at a Christian school in March killed six people, including three children. On May 8, Lee called a special session scheduled for August 21 to look at public safety in the state.

“There is broad agreement that action is needed, and in the coming weeks we will continue to listen to the citizens of Tennessee and take thoughtful, practical actions to strengthen the safety of Tennessees to uphold the rights of the Second Amendment, the… prioritize protection of due process and support law enforcement.” and address mental health.”

A bill to raise the minimum age to purchase an assault rifle from 18 to 21 advanced in Texas after winning an 8-5 vote from a House committee. Also a Republican state, many residents have spoken with lawmakers in favor of gun reform, particularly after the May 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which killed 19 children and two adults.