SB 44 – Under Review
Summary: Creates mandatory minimum sentencing for any person who recruits another to join a criminal street gang or participate in criminal street gang activities.
SB 67 – Support
Summary: Protects gun rights in Georgia by prohibiting the enforcement of any federal law, regulation, or mandate that undermines the 2nd Amendment.
Reason: Legislation safeguards our 2nd Amendment Rights from government overreach.
SB 75 – Opposed
Summary: The bill requires firearms to be stored in a locked container or rendered inoperable if an adult is not present in a home.
Reason: 1. It is unworkable. It has an exception for giving a minor a handgun as specified in 16-11-132. In that section you can give your children permission to possess a handgun on your owner property generally and for purposes of self-defense. (OCGA 16-11-132(c)(2) and (3). So that means an individual can generally allow access by their children of handguns on their property — i.e., they can be left loaded and unlocked for the children to use to defend themselves. At the same time, the bill also criminalizes leaving a firearm loaded and unlocked where a child can access them. How can you leave it for your children and also be criminally liable if a child gets it?
2. It is unconstitutional. In District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a provision in DC law that required that a handgun be kept either disassembled or unloaded and locked — which is exactly what the bill proposes.
SB 119 – Opposed
Summary: Strips gun rights for those who are convicted of simple battery or simple assault if either incident was domestic in nature. Removes gun rights for those convicted of pointing a firearm – loaded or unloaded – at a person who is their spouse, child, domestic partner, etc. Gun rights are also lost for those convicted of the misdemeanor crime of family violence.
HR 139 – Support
Summary: Creates a House Study Committee on Alternatives to Mass Shooter Prevention Methods
Reason: GA2A supports efforts to keep students safe by empowering and incentivizing law enforcement, veterans, and teachers.
HB 44 – Opposed
Summary: Would require all transfers of firearms between private citizens to be done through a federally licensed firearms dealer, with certain exceptions such as transfers between family members. If the transferee was unable to pass a Brady background check, the FFL would then be required to conduct a background check on the gun owner to determine if they were eligible to receive their firearm back.
HB 45 – Opposed
Summary: Would require a 3-day waiting period on all firearms sales (except for those with a GWL) whether the dealer had the ability to conduct instant background checks or not.
Reason: Delaying a gun purchase by a citizen leaves them potentially unable to defend themselves during that time and is an unnecessary abridgement of the 2nd Amendment.
HB 83 – Opposed
Summary: The underlying bill deals with limiting ticket brokers and their customers from entering a venue. Unfortunately, the bill contains unnecessary language regarding “security” and “safety” that will allow promoters or sports teams for example to remove patrons who bring a weapon to a publicly owned space, which the promoters and sports teams are currently not allowed to do in Georgia code.
Reason: Citizens have a right to carry and defend themselves in publicly owned spaces. GA2A has fought numerous attempts to restrict this right in the past.
HB 135 – Opposed
Summary: Provides criminal liability for a citizen who possesses, stores, or leaves a firearm in a manner that allows another individual to obtain the firearm and it is used in a crime or displayed by a minor.
Reason: Gun owners could potentially be guilty of a crime if a weapon was stolen from a locked vehicle or property if they did not secure it in such a way that the weapon was unobtainable.
HB 161 – Opposed
Summary: The bill requires firearms to be stored in a locked container or rendered inoperable if an adult is not present in a home.
Reason: 1. It is unworkable. It has an exception for giving a minor a handgun as specified in 16-11-132. In that section you can give your children permission to possess a handgun on your owner property generally and for purposes of self-defense. (OCGA 16-11-132(c)(2) and (3). So that means an individual can generally allow access by their children of handguns on their property — i.e., they can be left loaded and unlocked for the children to use to defend themselves. At the same time, the bill also criminalizes leaving a firearm loaded and unlocked where a child can access them. How can you leave it for your children and also be criminally liable if a child gets it?
2. It is unconstitutional. In District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a provision in DC law that required that a handgun be kept either disassembled or unloaded and locked — which is exactly what the bill proposes.
HB 195 – Opposed
Summary: Requires firearms training for all new GWL applications and renewals.
Reason: Adds additional obstacles for law-abiding Georgians to exercise their constitutional rights.
HB 224 – Opposed
Summary: Requires gun owners – or family members – to report to law enforcement a missing firearm within 5 days.
Reason: Adds an undue burden on gun owners and creates the beginning of a gun registry.
HB 293 – Support
Summary: Protects gun rights in Georgia by prohibiting the enforcement of any federal law, regulation, or mandate that undermines the 2nd Amendment.
Reason: Legislation safeguards our 2nd Amendment Rights from government overreach.
HB 366 – Opposed
Summary: Very similar to HB 161, the bill requires firearms to be stored in a locked container or rendered inoperable unless they are being carried by an adult or within proximity of an adult.
Reason: 1. It is unworkable. It has an exception for giving a minor a handgun as specified in 16-11-132. In that section you can give your children permission to possess a handgun on your owner property generally and for purposes of self-defense. (OCGA 16-11-132(c)(2) and (3). So that means an individual can generally allow access by their children of handguns on their property — i.e., they can be left loaded and unlocked for the children to use to defend themselves. At the same time, the bill also criminalizes leaving a firearm loaded and unlocked where a child can access them. How can you leave it for your children and also be criminally liable if a child gets it?
2. It is unconstitutional. In District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a provision in DC law that required that a handgun be kept either disassembled or unloaded and locked — which is exactly what the bill proposes.
HB 383 – Opposed
Summary: Creates new crimes regarding assaults and batteries upon “health care workers” and imposes more severe penalties for those crimes than for analogous crimes on other citizens.
Reason: It is an unprincipled elevation of the lives of some private section employees over all others, and relies on in appropriate definitions of assault that do not include an element of intent.
HB 398 – Neutral
Summary: Similar to HB 83, this bill contained the unnecessary safety and security language in the original draft.
Reason: The bill was amended to remove the language that concerned GA2A.
HB560 – Support
Summary: Protects places of worship by allowing law-abiding Georgians to carry at their church or synagogue, allows Probate Court Judges to accept GWL applications online or through the mail, prohibits the creation of an database of gun owners or guns, protects the firing of weapons on private land that’s 10 acres or more, provides for law enforcement to quickly auction seized firearms to qualified Georgians, ensures that firearms and accessories can be manufactured and purchased, and GWL applications accepted and approved during a State of Emergency.
Reason: Comprehensive bill that protects and expands gun rights in Georgia. It includes several of the items on GA2A’s legislative agenda and will help safeguard the 2nd Amendment now and into the future.
HB 554 – Opposed
Summary: Makes most semi-automatic firearms “assault weapons” and prohibits providing them to people under 21.
Reason: Directly violates the state and federal constitutional rights of people under 21.
HB 555 – Opposed
Summary: Redefines dangerous weapons
Reason: definitions have internal inconsistences and would make any semi-automatic firearm a dangerous weapon because it would include the trigger spring.
HB 568 – Support
Summary: Requires a person, business, or entity that prohibits a lawful weapons carrier from possessing a weapon on said property to take custodial responsibility for the safety and well-being of the person who is restricted in exercising their 2nd Amendment Rights.
Reason: Those who undermine the 2nd Amendment and disarm law-abiding gun owners should be held responsible for the safety of those they disarm.
