AG Chris Carr (R) notified leaders in the coastal city recently that their misguided efforts were now shot down.
His office provides a “courtesy review” of actions by local governments to inform them of their compliance with state law. This may be done by request, but nothing of the sort came from Savannah officials when they approved their new gun control regulations.
Carr wrote, “We are not aware of the analysis of the ordinances by your office if any and this Office was not requested to conduct any review of advice. Had this office been requested to do so in this matter, our analysis would have concluded that the ordinances directly conflict with, and are preempted by, state law.”
Georgia is one of several states that took measures to prevent a patchwork quilt of oppressive gun ordinances by activist local governments. Savannah’s leadership knew this going in but persisted in pursuing new restrictions on storage of weapons in vehicles and reporting incidents of gun thefts.
Not automatically bad ideas in and of themselves, but void ordinances, nonetheless.
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson (D) attempted to justify his city’s overreach last month. While saying he supports the Second Amendment and the right to keep and bear arms, he acknowledged the blowback he would receive from gun rights activists.
“To be very clear, when you mention that “G” word, people get really upset,” Johnson said. “In the time you take to call my office and complain, you can lock your gun up.”
Perhaps, but his office and the city council overstepped in enacting these measures. And while their intentions were not nearly as draconian as some taken recently by local governments, they are still preempted by Georgia law.
This preemption protects law-abiding citizens from anti-gun zealots. If Johnson and city leaders want to see the statutes change, the proper course of action is to lobby state lawmakers.
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