Posted on 02/04/2008 5:28:35 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Gun owners entering churches, restaurants or public parks could take their guns with them, under a bill passed by the Georgia House on Thursday.
They also could leave them in their glove compartments at work.
On a 111-58 vote, the House voted to expand greatly the rights of permitted gun owners to carry their concealed weapons into places prohibited now under Georgia law.
"Georgia is the most restrictive state for law-abiding citizens, with Georgia firearms-license permits, in the nation," said state Rep. Tim Bearden (R-Villa Rica), the bill's author.
"I think we've got work to do in this state, when California and New York [have] better gun laws than us."
"This is the 'take your gun to church' bill," said state Rep. Doug McKillip (D-Athens), who voted against the legislation.
"This is the 'take your gun to work' bill. ... Under this bill, you can take your gun to Chili's."
The measure returns to the Senate, which passed a similar bill in January but must vote again because the House amended the legislation Thursday.
Those changes include lifting the ban on taking a gun into church and liberalizing the existing ban on carrying firearms into bars.
Under the amended bill, a permitted gun owner can carry a firearm into restaurants that make less than half of their money from alcohol sales.
Bearden said private-property owners, including church congregations, would retain the right to keep guns off their lands.
State Rep. Bobby Reese (R-Sugar Hill) invoked the name of Meredith Emerson during a question to Bearden.
Emerson is the Buford woman who was kidnapped while hiking in North Georgia on Jan. 1 and later killed. On Thursday, a judge sentenced Gary Michael Hilton to life in prison after Hilton pleaded guilty to Emerson's murder.
"Is it not true also that if she chose on her own free will to arm herself," Reese asked, "possibly with a handgun, at that time being by herself in the woods, that she may very well be alive today?"
Bearden replied: "As a law-abiding citizen, she was forced to disarm, just like anyone else who would be forced to disarm, if they want to go for a hike."
That's the point, you dolt!
We have cc in TN
I wonder if it applies to churches ???
Ask Colorado! Look up “New Life Church shootings”
Liberal idiots will never understand.
Matthew Murray.
That was the New Life Church shooter. Stopped by a civilian with a carry permit.
He killed two girls and wounded their daddy in the parking lot.
Most churches in MN forbid carrying in/on their premises.
I just don’t tell or “print”.
Simple....
Generally Churches may post that firearms are off limits.
Many just ignore the rule but it is difficult to conceal when people are hugging you.
It has always galled me that I can't carry where I may need it the most -- sporting events, restaurants, church . . .
Luby's Cafeteria comes to mind too.
My church congregation includes several active and retired LEO’s. I not only hope, but EXPECT that they are carrying.
According to Romans 13 they are just as much ministers as those occupying the pulpit.
Thank God.
Great, now an open carry right would be nice as well.
Sad day in America when Churches become targets for the deranged, but it is what is, a fallen world eh?
COOL! Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!
Thanks be to God ! Now I can worry much less about where I am with my gun. If I walk into a Chilis then I wont be arrested.
GOD BLESS Our wise leaders in Georgia !!!
I'm sure much of this is at the bequest of our POS "republican" governor (another democrat turd who flipped when it was politically expedient), who seems to be more interested in placating wealthy businessmen, than protecting and expanding the limits of freedom and Constitutional rights of Georgia citizens.
See this article (sorry, don't know how to make it an active link):
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/shared-blogs/ajc/politicalinsider/entries/2008/02/01/a_real_whodunnit_the_senate_ma.html
Now the church will really start tithing. LOL!
Haven’t these folks heard of the “church militant”? (:^)
The right of self-defense is inherent.
On the frontier of the late 1700s, it was common to take your “gun” to church, “...with each man setting them in a corner till after meeting.”
A bad guy is going to take his gun to church or a restaurant anyway. What the heck is wrong with a law abiding citizen bringing a gun to same?
Yes and some preachers carry.
posting only to show my tagline.
“Interesting conflict:Private property rights vs. gun rights.”
I assume that when talking about private property rights you are referring to things like the 5th amendment. That amendment restricts the government from seizing or abusing your private property. It says nothing about depriving other citizens of their constitutional rights.
Why should I have to give up my constitutional rights because I am on someone else’s property? If you discover I have a concealed weapon while on your property and you do not want that, then you can ask me to leave. That is your right. However, it should be my right to carry wherever.
I live in Pa and the only places we are not allowed to conceal carry is at the airport and schools. I believe those are both federal and not state restrictions. It used to be the courthouse also, but they recently amended that here so that you can restrict parts of the courthouse, but not all of the courthouse.
If a business, like Ruby Tuesdays has a sign outside ‘No Guns Allowed or No Discussion of Politics, Aliens or 9/11 Truther Talk’. They can do it. We are not talking about Public property.
It is their property, and they can restrict your ‘Rights’, they do it all the time and I can as well.
Should it matter?
“It is their property, and they can restrict your ‘Rights’, they do it all the time and I can as well.”
I believe I said that in my post. However, it should not be illegal and that’s the point I was trying to make. In other words, if someone brings a gun into Ruby Tuesdays with that sign outside and someone sees your gun, then they can kindly ask you to remove the gun or leave the premises. However, they should not be able to have you arrested or fined.
It sounds like it is actually a crime to bring a gun into a church in Georgia. That means that there are consequences such as fines or jail. That is what is wrong here.
No I agree with you. I would hope it is simply up to the Church or Business, not the State. I think we agree on that.
Men carried shotguns when they went to church here in the old days when wagons were the common means of family transportation.
Also common to be ‘required’ to bring it or be fined for not being a guardian of the congregation...
COLONIAL RECORDS OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA, PART 1, 138 (1911) (churchgoer “shall carry with him a gun, or a pair of pistols, in good order and fit for service, with at least six charges of gun-powder and ball, and shall take the said gun or pistols with him to the pew or seat”).
Yeah, its interesting, but not a conflict...
A private facility that is open to the public in this manner, should not infringe upon yours, or my right to bear arms...
I know many ministers and preachers that carry on the pulpit...Its not a big deal, nor is it much of a subject of conversation...No one seems to mind when they find out about it either...
The simplistic and uninformed comment to this about “Why would you need to carry a gun to and in church?” Is easily countered by how may people in this country have been murdered by a committed and deranged person???
Way to go Georgia!!! Other state governments could learn a lot from y’all... You are trusted more than a lot of other people in this country...
“I do not fear my government, I only fear the tyrrany of good intentions.” — Stevie-D
I sure hope this passes. I have a Ga Firearms License.
http://www.stephenhalbrook.com/articles/guns-crime-swiss.htmlAlso, in addition to the limited carnage at the New Life Church thanks to a responsible, gun-carrying citizen, consider the following. An incident comparable to last year's VT tragedy had taken place on another Virginia campus a few years earlier. Sadly, reports about the previous incident had failed to note that the renegade student was stopped by other students who had locked guns in their vehicles. In fact, the other students had stopped the gun-shooting student before the cops arrived at the crime scene.
http://freestudents.blogspot.com/2007/04/when-mass-killers-meet-armed-resistance.htmlNote that it has been observed that, just as with the older Virginia shooting incident, the gun-elimination media is arguably trying to rewrite history concerning the New Life Church incident.
http://armsandthelaw.com/archives/2007/12/shooting_at_new_1.php
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