October 21, 2024
DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. (AP) — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp rose to national notice in 2018 in part through a television ad that showed him brandishing a shotgun at an actor playing a suitor of one of his daughters.
The Republican, then running as conservative insurgent, pushed his support for gun rights, proposing to do away with the requirement that Georgians obtain a permit to carry a concealed handgun in public.
Tuesday, facing a Republican primary challenge from former U.S. Sen. David Perdue, Kemp completed his return to those roots, signing Senate Bill 319. It immediately allows permitless carry in Georgia, making it the 25th state with such a law, and the 10th added in the past two years.
“SB 319 makes sure that law-abiding Georgians, including our daughters, and your family too, can protect themselves without having to have permission from your state government,” Kemp said outside Gable Sporting Goods in Douglasville, where he said he had previously purchased a handgun for one of his daughters. “The Constitution of the United States gives us that right, not the government.”
Republicans argue that requiring a carry permit, which costs about $75, infringes on Second Amendment gun rights. They also cite permitting delays in some Georgia counties during the COVID-19 pandemic.
