The Republican-controlled Georgia Legislature is pushing legislation this year aimed at incentivizing the purchase of guns and ammunition with a sales tax holiday and giving a tax credit for Georgians who spend money on gun safety measures.
Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers, who are in the minority, have proposed laws to regulate firearms, but they have to find creative ways to get any of their ideas discussed, such as taking to the chamber floor when Republican bills are up for a vote.
State Rep. Mark Newton, a Republican from Augusta, sponsored House Bill 79, which would allow gun owners to claim the purchases of gun safety equipment or classes for tax credits up to $300.
“We want to make sure that this bill is voluntary,” Newton said, stressing that no one would be required to purchase a safe or keep their weapons locked away. “It has no threats of criminal action.”
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
State Rep. Michelle Au, a Johns Creek Democrat, has filed gun safety bills in recent years, including a waiting period to purchase firearms and a bill that would require background checks be done for every gun purchase, not just those made by federal firearms dealers.
House Bill 1, sponsored this year by Au, would require gun owners to keep loaded firearms away from children. If a child gained access to a gun and injured or killed themselves or someone else, the firearm owner could be charged with a misdemeanor. But that bill, like other Democratic-backed gun control bills in both chambers, never got a hearing.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Brian Strickland, R-McDonough, said the high volume of legislation assigned to his committee — including many gun-related proposals — makes it difficult to give hearings to bills that are unlikely to make it to the GOP-controlled chamber floor. However, he said some bills included “extreme measures” he believes don’t have the support of most Georgians.
Facing those obstacles, Au used the debate over the gun safe bill to walk her colleagues through a series of hypothetical situations, “since I might not get another chance to do this,” she said.
“What if we passed a bill offering families vouchers for buying car seats, but we did not also have a law requiring car seat use for babies and children?” she said. “I think we can recognize how, despite all the good intentions, incentives alone do not work nearly as well as incentives coupled with regulation.”
Au was one of several Democratic lawmakers who spoke in support of the HB 79 during House floor debate, but urged their Republican colleagues to do more. Au said Democrats first made sure it was clear Newton’s bill would pass, which it did 165-8. All eight votes against the measure are Republicans.
“The point of a hearing, obviously, is to air the issues, to have a debate, to really respectfully and thoughtfully debate,” Au told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week. “The issue is that we never got a chance to do that.”
Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch said he keeps his weapons in a place he believes is safe and away from his teenage sons. He said gun owners shouldn’t look to the government to entice them into doing what’s right.
“Personally, I believe every gun owner should take full responsibility for their guns to make sure that they’re not in reach of a minor or a person that’s not authorized to touch it,” the Dahlonega Republican said. “So I think it’s the responsibility of the parent, not the government to either entice you or to somehow incentivize you to go buy a safe to lock it up.”
Gooch said he prefers the approach of Senate Bill 47, which would create an 11-day sales tax holiday to coincide with the beginning of deer hunting season, as a way to keep money in Georgians’ pockets, but that he was not opposed to the idea of tax credits. The sales tax break would apply to weapons and ammunition as well as safes and safety equipment.
Another Senate bill would allow people charged under local laws that cite gun owners for leaving weapons in unlocked cars to sue the cities that pass those ordinances. Savannah passed a law last year penalizing people who leave their weapons in unlocked cars.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
State Sen. Colton Moore, a Trenton Republican, argued that the Savannah ordinance was done “illegally.” State law bans municipalities from enacting local laws that regulate guns “in any manner.” Senate Bill 163 would “provide a means of enforcement of what is already illegal and that is adopting ordinances that violate the supremacy of the Georgia General Assembly,” Moore said.
Senate Democratic Caucus Chairwoman Elena Parent unsuccessfully attempted to amend the legislation to require gun owners to keep their firearms locked away from children. Republicans blocked her amendment on a party-line vote.
“It should not be controversial that you should not leave a loaded gun around children. And I don’t think it is. I don’t think that’s actually controversial in terms of the broader public,” she said.
A January poll from the AJC found that about 48% of Georgians say they think stricter gun laws would reduce mass shootings, but only 28% of those polled said lawmakers should pass them. About 41% of those polled said they were “not confident at all” that stricter gun laws would tamp down mass shootings.
Democrats said they will continue to push for gun control legislation, many aspects of which they say are common sense.
Parent said Republican lawmakers are intimidated by “very aggressive gun-rights activists” who threaten to run primary opponents against them.
“(That) is the real reason that we’re not doing anything,” Parent said. “But you know what? Why have the seat if you’re not willing to do what’s right here?”
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