The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus and Amnesty International USA Condemn Georgia Governor Kemp’s Signing of Legislation Eliminating the Concealed Handgun Permitting Process
Governor Signed SB 319 – Permitless Carry Bill at Gun Store Today
For Immediate Release
April 12, 2022
(Atlanta, GA): Today, Governor Brian Kemp signed legislation that will eliminate Georgia’s concealed handgun permitting process.
Permitless Carry will allow gun owners in Georgia to conceal-carry a handgun without training, a background check, or a permit. In 2014, Georgia saw 1,391 firearm deaths of all forms, 506 of which were homicides. In 2020, Georgia had 1,897 firearm deaths of all forms, 899 of which were homicides. That represents nearly an 80% increase in firearm homicides in six years and recent data from the Gun Violence Archive indicates that this bloody surge is continuing.
Georgia’s public higher education system became the next target for “Guns Everywhere” in 2017, when the state passed legislation allowing guns on campus, despite seven previous years of defeat. We can’t let this trend of weakening gun laws continue to put Georgians in danger.
Andy Pelosi, Executive Director of The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus, responded to Governor Kemp’s bill signing, “In a March 30th tweet, Governor Kemp stated, ‘Public safety is the No. 1 responsibility of government’. If that is the case, why would the Georgia General Assembly and Governor Kemp eliminate a permitting procedure designed to protect public safety that requires an additional background check and good character standard before allowing people to carry loaded, hidden guns in public? Moreover, this new law will further endanger Georgia’s public, higher education institutions that were forced in 2017 to permit guns on campus.”
Ernest Coverson, Amnesty International USA’s End Gun Violence Manager, added, “Gun violence destroys families, harms communities and denies people their human rights. Data shows that states with universal handgun background checks had lower levels of gun violence across the board, and Governor Kemp’s decision to sign this permitless carry legislation is a failure for all Georgians that ultimately puts their safety at risk.”
# # #
Contact: Gabby Arias, Amnesty International USA (212-633-4145) [email protected]
Andy Pelosi, The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus (914-629-6726) [email protected]
About Amnesty International USA
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning global movement of more than 10 million people who campaign for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.
About The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus
The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus works with K-12 schools, colleges and universities across the country to oppose legislative policies that would force loaded, concealed guns on campuses. Since 2008, The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus has helped stop campus carry legislation in 18 states and is the only national organization of its kind tasked with protecting higher educational institutions and the communities they serve. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Photo: “Non-violence – the Knotted Gun – United Nations” by Al_HikesAZ is marked with CC BY-NC 2.0.
