The Atlanta Police Department is begging fans who will attend the NCAA football championship to forgo having legally-owned guns in their cars for self-defense.
On January 4, the AP quoted Atlanta police chief Erika Shields entreating fans to “Please, please execute the highest regard and greatest level of common sense. We CANNOT have folks continuing to bring guns and leaving them in their cars.”
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms suggested fans should come and enjoy the game while trusting law enforcement to keep them safe.
Jerry Henry, executive director the gun rights organization Georgia Carry, reacted to Chief Shields and Mayor Bottoms’ statements by telling Breitbart News, “Saying please don’t leave your guns in your cars is all the Atlanta Police Department and the mayor can legally do to law-abiding citizens who refuse to travel without their legally owned guns. It is not against the law for anyone who is not prohibited from owning a gun to have it in their vehicle.”
Henry added, “The city of Atlanta has tried to write their own laws before but the state preemption statute is the rule of law and only the General Assembly has the power to pass gun control laws. GeorgiaCarry.Org took the city of Atlanta to court today in 2009 over their ordinance prohibiting carrying firearms in city parks. The city lost that battle and another violation of the preemption statute will certainly result in further legal action.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.
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