Atlanta City Council Wants Mandatory Storage Law

(AP Photo/John Locher, File)

Georgia is a pretty pro-gun state. It’s not quite as good as it could be–*cough* constitutional carry *cough*–but it’s still pretty good on guns. Yet the city of Atlanta is the thorn in the pro-Second Amendment side as they have repeatedly tried to violate state preemption laws.

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Every time they’ve tried it, they’ve been smacked down in the courts.

Yet is that enough to stop them from trying it all over again.

Atlanta City Council wants to fine people who do not safely store their guns. On Monday, full council passed a resolution that urges the state to give local governments the authority to issue penalties.

The resolution comes as Atlanta Police Department reported thousands of stolen guns connected to crimes across the city.

The Real Locksmith has seen a triple increase in gun lock box purchases. It’s something Atlanta City Councilman Michael Julian Bond. Bond says APD reported thieves stole about 2,000 guns from cars so far this year. The council says last year the number was about 1600.

“That is the number one resource for these criminals to obtain weapons, it’s not a shadowy figure pulling up to the ghetto,” Bond explained.

So the councilman introduced a gun safety resolution, which full council approved Monday afternoon. It urges the state to allow local cities, like Atlanta, to issue fines for those who don’t safely store their guns in their car.

“These guns are showing up in other crimes that are being committed in our city.”

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Of course, the city council voted to approve this measure.

Not that it’ll do anything. Again, Georgia has preemption, so they can’t just make their own rules.

However, I am being more than a little unfair to Atlanta. After all, it seems this time they know they can’t. While the council has approved the measure, they’re not doing anything until or unless they can convince the general assembly to approve of the measure during next year’s legislative session.

And, honestly, they might just get that approval. After all, some will likely approve it because it doesn’t impact the rest of the state, just Atlanta.

However, that possibility isn’t very strong. The Republican Party has a firm lock on both chambers of the legislature and while the GOP leadership seems completely unwilling to do anything to advance the cause of restoring our Second Amendment rights–looking at you, Speaker Ralston–I can’t imagine them being interested in taking a step backward, even if localized to just Atlanta.

Plus, we don’t actually know that Atlanta’s lobbyists will just be asking for an exception for the city as opposed to trying to push a mandatory storage bill throughout the state. For me and a lot of other Georgians, that’s a non-starter. At that point, it’s not what Atlanta wants, it’s what they’re trying to push on the rest of the state.

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Regardless, I personally want to see the city get slapped down hard by the general assembly for even suggesting something like this. Atlanta has problems, but more gun control isn’t really the issue.

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