Last night, the Georgia State Senate took a major step forward on critical suppressor hunting legislation when it voted to pass House Bill 60 with amendments by a 37-18 vote. State Senator Bill Heath (R-31), the original sponsor of SB 93, successfully introduced the amendment to repeal the prohibition on the use of legally possessed suppressors while hunting in Georgia to HB 60. The NRA-ILA, Georgia Carry, and ASA were instrumental in the addition of the amendment.
The bill will now go to the House for concurrence. However, in order for HB 60 to pass, it must be heard on Thursday, March 20th, before the legislature adjourns for the year.
According to the NRA-ILA, in addition to legalizing the use of suppressors while hunting in Georgia, HB 60 would do the following, if passed and enacted into law:
- Remove fingerprinting for renewal of Weapons Carry Licenses (WCL).
- Prohibit the state from creating and maintaining a database of WCL holders.
- Create an absolute defense for the legal use of deadly force in the face of a violent attack.
- Remove the sweeping restrictions on legally carrying a firearm with a WCL in churches and bars, leaving this decision to private property owners.
- Lower the age to obtain a concealed WCL for self-defense from 21 to 18 for active duty military, with specific training.
- Repeal the unnecessary and duplicative state-required license for a firearms dealer, instead requiring only a Federal Firearms License (FFL).
- Prohibit a ban on firearms in public housing, ensuring that the right to self-defense should not be infringed based on where one calls home.
- Codify the ability to legally carry, with a WCL, in sterile/non-secure areas of airports.
- Include a provision that would have the state report those persons who have been involuntarily hospitalized or have been adjudicated mentally deficient to the NICS system while also providing an ability for relief through an application process to the court system for the purpose of restoration of rights.
- State that under a declared state of emergency, all law-abiding gun owners will not have their Second Amendment rights restricted or infringed by executive authority through Emergency Powers protection.
- Strengthen current firearms preemption statutes through further clarification of the regulatory authority of local governments, excluding firearm discharge ordinances.
Please contact your state Representative TODAY and urge them to support HB 60. Contact information can be found below:
