On Tuesday, Georgia’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, signed a bill that makes the state’s constitutional carry status official.
This means people can carry handguns without a permit or going through a background check to get a license.
The Georgia Constitutional Carry Act is now law! #2A pic.twitter.com/iCnx3Xoy4T
— Governor Brian P. Kemp (@GovKemp) April 12, 2022
In less than a month after the Republican-controlled state Senate passed the measure, Governor Brian Kemp signed SB 319, making Georgia the 25th legal carry state in the US.
Details and Provisions
Earlier this month, Kemp spoke outside Gable Sporting Goods in Douglasville, where he stated he initially purchased a handgun for one of his daughters.
“SB 319 ensures that law-abiding Georgians, such as our girls, and your family as well, can protect themselves without having to seek permission from your state authorities,” Kemp said.
“It is the Constitution of the United States, not the government, that grants us that right.”
The state’s Republican legislators contended that Georgia’s current carry permit impacted the Second Amendment rights of the state’s inhabitants. They were successful.
#BREAKING Gov. Kemp just signed the Georgia Constitutional Carry Act into law, which allows people to carry handguns without a license; Stacey Abrams and Keisha Lance Bottoms are not happy about it 👀 pic.twitter.com/Uelhky0Lhg
— ATL Uncensored – Atlanta News (@ATLUncensored) April 12, 2022
Kemp also talked about some of the concerns some people in his state had about changing the previous law.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Kemp told reporters, “There is no doubt that we are living in hard times.”
The second piece of legislation, House Bill 218 (signed by the governor on Tuesday), permits concealed carry license holders from other states to carry their firearms legally in Georgia.
In an interview with Newsmax, Kemp said, “HB 218 ensures that people allowed to carry in another state are also allowed to do so here in Georgia.”
The Biden Administration
Kemp is facing a tough primary fight from former Georgia Republican Sen. David Perdue, who is running for governor of the state. Former President Trump backed Perdue for the position. The primary election in Georgia will take place on May 24.
The new constitutional carry statute was also enacted just after President Biden reiterated his call for a ban on long semi-automatic guns in a speech on Monday that concentrated on what his government is doing to curtail Second Amendment freedoms.
“Assault rifles and high-capacity magazines must be banned from the United States,” Biden said emphatically.
“We need Congress to enact mandatory background checks, and I know that’s controversial, but I got it done once,” he said.
When asked why individuals don’t require high-capacity magazines, Biden said that deer don’t wear “Kevlar vests,” which he believes are common among hunters.
During the event, the administration announced a final rule to stop the spread of so-called “ghost guns,” which are secretly made firearms that don’t have a product code and don’t need a background check to get parts to build a firearm.
Alabama, Arizona, Idaho, Arkansas, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky, Kansas, Iowa, Maine, Montana, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee, South Dakota, West Virginia, Vermont, Utah, and Wyoming are the other 24 states that have enacted constitutional carry laws.
