Georgia’s Democratic lawmakers are calling for stiffer gun control laws after the attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life on Saturday, but the Republican majority at the Georgia State Capitol is unlikely to be interested.
It’s a common theme after high-profile shootings in Georgia and across the country.
The latest call for changes to gun laws comes after the shooting at a Pennsylvania rally for Trump that killed one rallygoer and injured at least two others. Trump also was injured during the incident.
“I think it’s another one of many examples of how the ubiquity of guns in American society garners and leads to a lot of gun violence and risk for everyone, no matter who we are and no matter where we are in this country,” said state Sen. Elena Parent of Atlanta, head of the Democratic caucus in the chamber. “Those risks are even higher when semiautomatic rifles are readily in houses and hands all over the country.”
Parent is one of several Democratic lawmakers who have pushed for gun control laws over the years.
Democrats say while several gun control measures — such as requiring background checks on all gun purchases and “red flag” laws that temporarily take firearms away from gun owners who have been identified as a danger to themselves or others — poll well across party lines, Republicans have been resistant to back any limitations.
Each session, Democrats introduce gun control measures and each session those bills get no traction.
Senate Majority Caucus Chairman Jason Anavitarte, R-Dallas, said calls for gun control after Saturday’s shooting were “tone deaf.”
“The incident on Saturday was no more the fault of the Second Amendment than it was the fault of the First Amendment,” he said. “I don’t see any Democrats clamoring to rein in their own freedom of speech, and I won’t stand for them trying to use this tragedy to take away our guns.”
Some conservatives used Saturday’s violence as a chance to call for looser firearms laws. Jerry Henry of Georgia Second Amendment, a gun rights group, called it another “reason that shows why we need guns.”
Henry said he doesn’t believe guns are the cause of gun violence. “My gun isn’t violent,” he said.
“If somebody runs over a car and kills them while drunk, it’s the person’s fault, not the car’s,” he said. “But when somebody shoots somebody, it’s not the guy who did the shooting, it’s the gun’s fault. It’s not a level playing ground.”
State Rep. Michelle Au, D-Johns Creek, said cars weren’t to blame for deaths caused by crashes, but there were regulations put in place — such as seat belts and children’s car seats — to try to reduce bodily harm.
“When we realized that motor vehicles are maybe not as safe for children or passengers under 16, our reaction was not to ban all cars,” Au said. “Our reaction was, ‘How do we use these tools in a more safe way?’ So we created a network of tools and regulations that make the experience of using this tool safer. So it’s the same approach.”
In recent years, gun laws have only been relaxed in Georgia, partially spurred by Gov. Brian Kemp’s campaign promise during his 2018 run for governor.
In 2022, when he was running for reelection, Kemp signed a law that allows gun owners to carry concealed weapons without getting a license. That law also allows people who have licenses to carry guns in other states to carry them legally in Georgia.
The last gun control bill that received enough Republican support to nearly make it across the finish line was in the aftermath of the 2018 shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high school.
In Georgia, the records of those who were involuntarily committed for mental health treatment are removed after five years from the national database that gun dealers use to run background checks on buyers. It is the only state in the nation to do so. The 2018 bill would have stopped the state from purging the records every five years.
That bill, sponsored by a Republican state representative, was fast-tracked after the February 2018 shooting and won approval by the House and a Senate panel before being tabled on the last day of the legislative session. That was the year before Kemp became governor, and Republican efforts to pass the measure never returned.
Au said she remains hopeful that her Republican colleagues will begin to move toward passing stricter gun laws.
“What Saturday showed is that this argument from the pro-gun side about ‘good guys with guns’ (stopping ‘bad guys with guns’) really doesn’t hold water,” Au said. “You saw a former president, who was surrounded and being protected by the most elite protective force in the world, still was the victim of gun violence.”
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