Georgia to Become 25th State to Pass Constitutional Carry

Georgia’s state Senate passed the state’s constitutional carry legislation on Friday, which GOP Gov. Brian Kemp intends to sign.

The bill allows Georgia to become the 25th state to not require a permit to carry concealed firearms for legal gun owners.

The bill passed the state House on Wednesday and moved through the state Senate in a 34-22 vote.

Here’s an address from Gov. Kemp:

The Constitution should be our carry permit, and I look forward to signing a Constitutional Carry measure this year to enshrine hardworking Georgians’ ability to protect themselves and their families in Georgia law. #2A pic.twitter.com/iWkl8VHo2z

— Governor Brian P. Kemp (@GovKemp) March 2, 2022

With this new law in Georgia, 25 states now have Constitutional Carry.
"From every mountainside, let freedom ring!" https://t.co/iEaybYtaPj pic.twitter.com/vPQkiZwt3p

— Shooting Illustrated (@ShootingIllustr) April 2, 2022

Shooting Illustrated commented:

A movement long championed by the NRA, constitutional carry eliminates the need for government permission before a law-abiding individual can exercise their right to bear arms.

“The NRA paved the way for constitutional carry by first leading the charge for right-to-carry nearly 40 years ago. Today, every state, and the District of Columbia, provides for the carrying of a firearm for self-defense outside the home in some form, and half the nation recognizes the Second Amendment protects law-abiding citizens’ right to self-defense as an inherent and inalienable right. NRA members have led this extraordinary brick-by-brick effort in building and expanding America’s self-defense laws and we are not done!,” said Wayne LaPierre, CEO and executive vice president of the NRA.

The modern carry movement in America began in earnest in 1987 when NRA helped pass a law legalizing concealed carry outside the home for all law-abiding gun owners in Florida. This law established a “shall issue” permitting regime in Florida, meaning the state was required to issue a carry permit to anyone who applied and could legally possess a firearm. Over the next 15 years, NRA successfully worked to establish right-to-carry laws in 42 states. To this day, eight states have failed to pass such legislation. However, the NRA brought this issue to the Supreme Court last fall and if the court rules in favor of the Second Amendment, the door will be opened to eliminate restrictive carry regimes in those states in the near future.

Georgia set to become 25th state with 'constitutional carry' law in major win for gun-rights activistshttps://t.co/sHl3J5mN5T

— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 1, 2022

Unsurprisingly, Democrats voiced their disapproval for Americans having the right to defend themselves from violent criminals.

Per Fox News:

Democrats, meanwhile, argue that getting read of concealed carry permitting requirements is dangerous for citizens.

“Because when you say that you want people to be safe, how can you say that you are willing to take away background checks and mental health checks before someone can have a weapon in this state?” Georgia Democrat gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams said at a campaign stop in Atlanta in January.

Vermont is the only state to always have “constitutional carry” as its concealed carry policy. As recently the 1980s, most states either did not allow concealed carry at all or had “may-issue” laws, meaning that it was up to the discretion of government officials whether a person has a good reason to own a gun.

Lobbying efforts by activists including the NRA pushed most states to “shall-issue” systems by the mid-2000s. That meant as long as a person passed a background check the government was required to give them a concealed carry permit. But in the past decade, state-after state repealed their shall-issue laws, replacing them with constitutional carry and giving all legal gun owners the right to carry their guns in public.

The constitutional carry movement has picked up tremendous momentum since 2021, including Alabama, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming passing constitutional carry laws.