Atlanta, GA–Midway through another week of the China Virus scare, millions of gun owners have been affected by the closing of sheriff’s offices across the country. With the sheriffs’ offices closed, all concealed carry permitting has ground to a standstill. For states that require a permit to purchase, those gun owners are also out of luck.
But one Georgia state Representative, Matt Gurtler, a Republican from Tirger, GA, has another alternative.
Closed sheriff offices leave gun owners high and dry without the ability to complete all the paperwork and pay the fees that would give them permission to protect their families and their homes. Gurtler says, ‘Why not do the opposite?’
Suspend the Rules in FAVOR of Gun Owners
Gurtler is proposing that the the state of Georgia suspend the concealed carry paperwork during the Corona crisis. Gurtler said, “It’s imperative that we suspend the enforcement of those weapons licenses,” Gurtler said.
While so many state’s governors are taking advantage of ’emergency powers’ to suspend elections or the right to assemble, why not have the Governor of Georgia use those same powers to override the Constitutional Carry laws? And Gov. Brian Kemp’s ’emergency powers’ were at least granted to him by the Georgia General Assembly, who approved Kemp’s executive order. The General Assembly met on March 16th for a special session to approve of Kemp’s assumption of emergency powers.
All that to say, the legislature has already given Kemp a green light to change the rules as he goes. Why not use that to gun owners advantage, instead of their disadvantage?
Gurtler agreed: “We need to suspend enforcement especially during the state of emergency, when so many individuals need to be able to defend themselves and their families and their loved ones and their property.” Gurtler said that his constituents don’t see how the current response has been Constitutional.
After all, none of the paperwork and fees and classes were required when the Constitution was written. Just because we’ve added extra requirements since that time doesn’t mean that we have to keep them. The only thing that must be kept? Gurtler explained, “It (the Second Amendment) says ‘shall not be infringed’, and we believe that is a no-compromise statement,” Gurtler said.
Anti-Gun Democrats Are Horrified, Of Course
There are always anti-gun politicians who think that allowing Americans to own guns without making them pay fees and fill out forms first will return us to the Wild West. Democratic Senator Jen Jordan of Atlanta thinks that Gurtler is dead wrong. “The fact that we’ve seen a spike in sales of guns and ammunition underscores just how wrong Gurtler is (about the need to suspend weapons license requirements),” Jordan said.
Jordan didn’t address the fact that tens of thousands of Georgia citizens now can’t get permits because their sheriff’s offices are closed.
But for Gutler, this is just another step in his efforts to restore Georgia citizen’s gun rights. He sponsored and pre-filed HB 2, a bill titled ‘Georgia Constitutional Carry Act’ in late 2018. Sadly, the bill hasn’t moved and won’t, now that the 2020 legislative session has been suspended.
Constitutional Carry Is The Solution
Representative Gurtler has solved the problem of how to ensure people are able to exercise the Second Amendment without putting staff in Sheriff’s offices at risk? It’s easy: do away with the unconstitutional roadblocks that the anti-gun crowd put in place!
Constitutional Carry would allow anybody who meets the requirements and who isn’t legally prohibited (felons, for example) to conceal carry a gun. Gun owners wouldn’t have to go through time consuming — and often expensive — training, pay fees, wait weeks for processing, or be at the whim of their sheriff as in ‘shall issue’ states.
The anti-gun crowd hates this idea, but the Corona Virus has made it clear that Constitutional Carry is the best defense gun owners have in crazy times like these.