The Georgia Senate approved a bill eliminating the requirement to obtain a license or a background check to carry a handgun in public. | Taylor R/Unsplash
The Georgia Senate approved a bill eliminating the requirement to obtain a license or a background check to carry a handgun in public. | Taylor R/Unsplash
The Georgia Senate has passed a bill that would eliminate the requirement for a license and background check in order to carry a handgun in public.
Senate Bill 319 passed 34-22 along party lines and now goes to the state House, according to Fox 5. It is supported by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.
Republicans have argued that the bill would remove an unnecessary burden on those seeking to exercise their Second Amendment rights.
But Democrats say the bill would increase gun deaths. They proposed an amendment that would expand background checks, but the GOP-controlled Senate rejected it.
State Sen. Jason Anavitarte (R-Dallas) alleged that criminals are unlikely to submit to the permitting process, and he suggested that the support the bill offers citizens exercising their Second Amendment rights will benefit law-abiding people more.
"Today, we empower good people, law-abiding people," Anavitarte said.
Under current Georgia law, citizens have to have a license to carry a loaded handgun outside of their homes.
Obtaining weapons licenses requires a background check, making convicted felons and those who have been hospitalized for mental health problems or received drug or alcohol treatment ineligible.
State Sen. Nan Orrock (D-Atlanta), said the bill would continue "the bloody trail of people injured and killed with gun violence here in our state."
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