The campaign slogan “Policy over Politics” played a major role in my 2018 successful bid to be Georgia’s 12th lieutenant governor. My critics dismissed the phrase as “focus group” generated and too Pollyanna to be taken seriously enough to be elected or have a chance to get results.
They were wrong on both fronts.
Credit: Geoff Duncan
Credit: Geoff Duncan
Despite the toxic partisanship of the national stage, Georgians on both sides of the aisle have been putting policy over politics for decades on politically complicated issues. In the 1990s, Gov. Zell Miller led the legislature down the politically dangerous and divisive path of creating a lottery system. The primary purpose was funding college tuition for graduating high school students who could maintain a “B” average or higher. The metrics of success for a lottery-driven scholarship program continue to be kind to this bipartisan historical effort. An astonishing 2.1 million students have participated in the program since 1994, and a jaw-dropping $15 billion has been generated from the lottery so far with no end in sight. It now seems easy to say the bipartisan juice was worth the squeeze for Georgia on this one.
Other modern examples of our elected officials ignoring the synthetic heartburn created in partisan corners are scattered throughout our history books. From changing state flags, modernizing education, reforming criminal justice systems or, more recently, building out an economic development engine that will thrive on a global stage for decades to come. In fact, looking back at most of the noteworthy accomplishments in our state’s recent history, they all seem to be rooted in politically courageous bipartisanship. No reason to stop now!
The new legislative session is underway, and there are no shortage of important subjects to tackle under the Gold Dome. Few are more pressing than meaningful bipartisan gun safety legislation. Firearms continue to be the leading cause of death for children and teenagers. The seriousness of the issue requires its elevation above the shallowness of outdated partisan politics.
Past, present and future families dealing with immense levels of grief are counting on the General Assembly to get this one right, and so are many others. According to a Quinnipiac poll, 92% of Americans support universal background checks and 83% support red flag laws. These numbers are unavoidable truths for conservative legislators and should provide the necessary aircover to fend off their worrisome political fears from the fractional extreme right.
This is not a one-size-fits all issue, and there is no exacting recipe for the perfect gun safety bill. Yet perfect cannot become the enemy of the good. Some necessary elements include universal background checks, red flag laws and safe gun storage laws. Rarely does perfect show up at the legislative finish line inside the Capitol, especially when it’s a bipartisan effort, but it should be continuously viewed as the north star throughout the process — shining enough light on history to see the inconsequential electoral effects of doing the right thing versus the faint whispers of a primary opponent.
Let me be clear: Updating our state’s gun safety laws to properly reflect reality is not an all-out attack on an individual’s Second Amendment rights like the barrage of fundraising emails from overzealous gun groups would lead one to believe. In fact, despite bipartisan support, the Republican majorities no doubt will generate a conservative strategy to temporarily keep guns away from someone who is an immediate threat to themselves or others, which we should all agree is a fantastic idea.
Signs of bipartisanship momentum surfaced last session with the passage of HB971 in the Georgia House. The bipartisan effort would have provided a tax credit of up to $300 for gun safety devices such as safes and trigger locks.
Though final passage was eventually circumvented in the Senate, this was a step in the right direction. But it should be only a starting point. Politically similar states like North Carolina and Texas have been able to pass meaningful safe gun storage laws that include state money to fund public health messaging programs. In fact, Texas appropriates $500,000 annually to the “Keep ‘Em Safe Texas” gun safety program that operates an informational website, creates promotional materials to hand out at schools and in the community, and has a dedicated staff. There is no way to tabulate the cumulative number of lives a program like this in Georgia would save from senseless gun violence and suicide, but I guarantee the juice will again be worth the squeeze.
With our razor-thin elections and controversial court cases, Georgia is poised to remain in the center of the political universe for years to come. With the nation watching, let’s add one more topic for their viewing pleasure: bipartisan safe gun legislation that could serve as a model for others on how to put policy over politics.
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