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http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/stories/2008/02/01/guns_0201.html
Gun owners entering churches, restaurants or public parks could take their guns with them, under a bill passed by the Georgia House on Thursday.
They also could leave them in their glove compartments at work.
On a 111-58 vote, the House voted to expand greatly the rights of permitted gun owners to carry their concealed weapons into places prohibited now under Georgia law.
"Georgia is the most restrictive state for law-abiding citizens, with Georgia firearms-license permits, in the nation," said state Rep. Tim Bearden (R-Villa Rica), the bill's author.
"I think we've got work to do in this state, when California and New York [have] better gun laws than us."
"This is the 'take your gun to church' bill," said state Rep. Doug McKillip (D-Athens), who voted against the legislation.
"This is the 'take your gun to work' bill. ... Under this bill, you can take your gun to Chili's."
The measure returns to the Senate, which passed a similar bill in January but must vote again because the House amended the legislation Thursday.
Those changes include lifting the ban on taking a gun into church and liberalizing the existing ban on carrying firearms into bars.
Under the amended bill, a permitted gun owner can carry a firearm into restaurants that make less than half of their money from alcohol sales.
Bearden said private-property owners, including church congregations, would retain the right to keep guns off their lands.
State Rep. Bobby Reese (R-Sugar Hill) invoked the name of Meredith Emerson during a question to Bearden.
Emerson is the Buford woman who was kidnapped while hiking in North Georgia on Jan. 1 and later killed. On Thursday, a judge sentenced Gary Michael Hilton to life in prison after Hilton pleaded guilty to Emerson's murder.
"Is it not true also that if she chose on her own free will to arm herself," Reese asked, "possibly with a handgun, at that time being by herself in the woods, that she may very well be alive today?"
Bearden replied: "As a law-abiding citizen, she was forced to disarm, just like anyone else who would be forced to disarm, if they want to go for a hike."
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/stories/2008/02/01/guns_0201.html
Gun owners entering churches, restaurants or public parks could take their guns with them, under a bill passed by the Georgia House on Thursday.
They also could leave them in their glove compartments at work.
On a 111-58 vote, the House voted to expand greatly the rights of permitted gun owners to carry their concealed weapons into places prohibited now under Georgia law.
"Georgia is the most restrictive state for law-abiding citizens, with Georgia firearms-license permits, in the nation," said state Rep. Tim Bearden (R-Villa Rica), the bill's author.
"I think we've got work to do in this state, when California and New York [have] better gun laws than us."
"This is the 'take your gun to church' bill," said state Rep. Doug McKillip (D-Athens), who voted against the legislation.
"This is the 'take your gun to work' bill. ... Under this bill, you can take your gun to Chili's."
The measure returns to the Senate, which passed a similar bill in January but must vote again because the House amended the legislation Thursday.
Those changes include lifting the ban on taking a gun into church and liberalizing the existing ban on carrying firearms into bars.
Under the amended bill, a permitted gun owner can carry a firearm into restaurants that make less than half of their money from alcohol sales.
Bearden said private-property owners, including church congregations, would retain the right to keep guns off their lands.
State Rep. Bobby Reese (R-Sugar Hill) invoked the name of Meredith Emerson during a question to Bearden.
Emerson is the Buford woman who was kidnapped while hiking in North Georgia on Jan. 1 and later killed. On Thursday, a judge sentenced Gary Michael Hilton to life in prison after Hilton pleaded guilty to Emerson's murder.
"Is it not true also that if she chose on her own free will to arm herself," Reese asked, "possibly with a handgun, at that time being by herself in the woods, that she may very well be alive today?"
Bearden replied: "As a law-abiding citizen, she was forced to disarm, just like anyone else who would be forced to disarm, if they want to go for a hike."
