ATLANTA --
A bill that would allow properly permitted gun owners to carry their guns into parts of Hartsfield-Jackson airport is awaiting Gov. Sonny Perdue’s signature.
The Georgia House passed the bill Tuesday. It would allow Georgia Firearms License holders to bring their weapons into areas of Georgia airports that are not controlled by the federal government, such as parking lots and the terminals.
A separate gun bill is scheduled to be debated on Thursday – the last day of the legislative session. That bill would allow properly licensed gun owners to carry their guns into bars, but only if the bar owners say it’s OK.
Those gun owners would also be allowed to keep their guns stowed in their cars if they park in parking lots on college campuses, courthouses, jails and prisons.
A provision that would have allowed licensed gun owners to carry guns into churches where permitted by the pastor was omitted in a committee hearing.
The bill’s sponsor, State Sen. Mitch Seabaugh, R-Sharpsburg, said the bill is aimed at clarifying Georgia’s current gun carry laws and would not make the public less safe.
“Current law, right now in the state of Georgia, you can carry a firearm, if you’re properly licensed, into a shopping mall, into a bank, into a Walmart and many places around the state right now. And we’re not having incidences of random acts of violence being created by individuals who are properly licensed,” said Seabaugh.
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