Session starts with rush to loosen state gun laws

ATLANTA --- Less than a year after the Virginia Tech massacre scuttled gun legislation backed by the National Rifle Association, Georgia lawmakers are working to relax firearm restrictions in the state.

A bill raced through the state Senate in its opening days that would allow Georgians to carry concealed weapons in parks and historic sites and anywhere in their cars. Guns would also be allowed in workplace parking lots, in some circumstances.

House Republicans have introduced an even broader bill that would allow permit holders to bring weapons into churches, political rallies or sporting events.

"There's suddenly a lot of activity," said Alice Johnson, the executive director of Georgians for Handgun Safety. "It's as if everyone is worried about their perfect rating from the NRA in this election year."

Georgia has long been known as a state friendly to the Second Amendment. Lawmakers in 2006 approved a bill that allows Georgians to use deadly force to protect themselves in public places, such as parking lots and jogging trails.

Still, gun rights advocates complain that the state's laws are restrictive when it comes to carrying firearms at public gatherings.

"The right to carry a gun shouldn't end at your front door," said Ed Stone of Georgia Carry, a gun rights group that argues the Second Amendment is meaningless without the right to carry a weapon where you choose.

Many of the supporters paint Georgia's gun laws as relics of the state's racist past, when whites feared an armed black uprising.

Georgia's law limiting weapons at public gatherings traces back to the aftermath of the 1868 massacre in Camilla, Ga., when white townsmen killed more than a dozen armed black men protesting the expulsion of 32 newly elected black state legislators.

Republican state Rep. Tim Bearden, a former police officer from Villa Rica, is sponsoring "The Second Amendment Protection Act of 2008," which would erase most restrictions on carrying weapons in public places with a few exceptions, including courthouses.

"California has less restrictive laws than Georgia does," Mr. Bearden said. "In California, I can go and shake Gov. Schwarzenegger's hand with my firearm."

That's true, but it doesn't tell the whole story.

Obtaining a permit in California can require applicants to take courses and jump through other hurdles, while a Georgia permit simply requires a background check, Ms. Johnson said.

The NRA has learned that even a gun-friendly state such as Georgia has its limits.

The group ran into a roadblock last week when it tried to push through a bill that would have allowed employees to leave firearms in their locked cars in workplace parking lots. Facing a storm of opposition from the state's business leaders -- who argued it infringed on the private-property rights of employers -- senators gutted that portion of the bill.

It now applies only to the roughly 300,000 Georgians with concealed-weapon permits, and employers could still ban guns as long as they also barred customers from carrying them.

The NRA is still backing the legislation, which must now pass in the House, but has said it would resist any efforts to water it down further. Still, the bill that has emerged seems to have momentum.

Some law enforcement groups are worried about the new freedoms the bill would give drivers to carry guns where they like in their vehicle. They note that it could make it more dangerous for police officers conducting traffic stops.