Earlier this year, the city of Savannah, Georgia adopted a new ordinance requiring gun owners to keep their firearms locked in "secure compartments" when left inside their vehicles, as well as mandating gun owners promptly report all lost or stolen firearms to local police. 

But even though the ordinance went into effect back in April, no one had been fined or cited for violating the law in the ensuing months. Now, however, the Savannah Morning News reports that the city is actively enforcing the ordinance, with four residents receiving fines or warnings over the past month.

SPD has recorded 83 instances of firearms that were taken from unlocked or locked vehicles between April 15 to Aug. 15 of this year, Niya Broveak, Savannah Police Department (SPD) open records specialist, confirmed in an email.

All four citations were issued after the Savannah Morning News reported that no one had been fined or charged under the ordinance as of July 11, despite Savannah Mayor Van Johnson saying during his weekly press conference that he expected that those who violated ordinance would be charged. At the same time, SPD spokesperson Neil Penttila said SPD was “actively enforcing the city’s ordinance” and reviewing “each incident in a case-by-case basis to determine if a citation is warranted.” 

I wonder if a Freedom of Information Act request would turn up any interesting communications between the mayor and police chief after the Savannah Morning News article ran? Was there an order to start issuing fines in the wake of the paper's report, or was it purely a coincidence that the first fines were levied shortly after it was revealed that the new ordinance wasn't being enforced? 

Regardless, now that the city is punishing some burglary victims, it's a little easier to challenge the ordinance in court. One lawsuit was filed soon after the ordinance was adopted by the city council, and a hearing on a request for an injunction is scheduled to take place in just a couple of weeks. That plaintiff, however, has not been hit with a fine or a warning, so it's possible that the judge will conclude he lacks standing to sue. Anyone who has been fined after their gun was stolen, however, is well-positioned to argue that the city's ordinance violates the state's firearm preemption law, and they can city Georgia's attorney general in their defense. 

Shortly after the ordinance unanimously passed on May 1, a Wayne County resident filed a civil lawsuit in Chatham County Superior Court against the City of Savannah, challenging the ordinance. In the suit, plaintiff Clarence Belt argued that the ordinance is “void” and “unenforceable," citing state law. In an answer, City Attorney Bates Lovett is requesting the court dismiss Belt’s complaint with prejudice. A motion hearing is scheduled for Sept. 4.

Two days later, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr sent a letter to Lovett. The letter stated that if the City of Savannah requested the AG’s office to conduct a legal review of the ordinance, the AG’s office would have determined that the ordinance would have directly conflicted with state law, citing O.C.G.A 16-11-173(b)(1), as previously reported.

Despite the letter, City of Savannah officials insisted that the ordinance would continue to be enforced.

Savannah has a legitimate interest in preventing crime, including the theft of firearms. But the city's focus should be on stopping burglars from committing crimes, not punishing legal gun owners who left their firearm in their car or truck. Georgia law is clear that no city or county can regulate "in any manner" the possession, ownership, transport, carrying, transfer, sale, purchase, licensing, or registration of firearms or components of firearms. The city's ordinance storage mandate for firearms in vehicles implicates both the possession and transportation of firearms, and as such runs afoul of the preemption law.

Georgia lawmakers could, if they wanted, tweak the preemption statute to specifically include "storage", but that shouldn't be necessary to put a halt to the city's bid to do an end-run around the existing preemption law. The most important step in putting the local ordinance on ice is finding a plaintiff with standing to sue, and now there are at least three Savannah residents who can demonstrate they've been harmed by Savannah's attempt to impose local gun controls.