The disciples Peter and John running to the tomb on the morning of the Resurrection 1898
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Category: A Victory!
U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)-– On Tuesday, April 12, Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia signed SB319, the Constitutional Carry (permitless carry) bill. The bill became effective when the Governor signed the bill.
Second Amendment supporters have been attempting to pass Constitutional Carry through the Georgia legislature for years. Governor Kemp pledged support for the measure in 2018. From fox5 atlanta.com:
Kemp said the bill is a public safety measure.
“SB 319 makes sure that law-abiding Georgians — law-abiding Georgians, including out daughters and your family too — can protect themselves without having the permission of the state government. The constitution of the United States gives us that right, not the government,” Kemp said Tuesday. “HB 218 ensures that individuals who are licensed to carry in another state are also authorized to do so here in Georgia.”
The governor initially promised the measure when he first ran for governor in 2018, but little was done to advance it. It’s been revived now that Kemp faces opposition in this year’s primary from former U.S. Republican Sen. David Perdue and others. Longtime proponents of gun rights have credited Kemp’s advocacy for moving the issue forward.
In 2022 Governor Kemp is in a tight primary race, in part because of his lack of performance during the 2020 elections. More and more evidence is accumulating of significant irregularities during the election in Georgia, which was a pivotal state in the presidential election.
Governor Kemp vigorously championed Constitutional Carry in Georgia during his primary campaign. The large signing ceremony for the bill was carried out in front of Gable Sporting Goods. Gable Sporting Goods is a long-established sporting goods store in Douglas, Georgia, which is in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
With Governor Kemp’s signature, Georgia becomes the fourth state to pass Constitutional Carry (permitless carry) in 2022, and the 25th member of the Constitutional Carry club in the United States. Half of all states have now restored their legal system to the situation where no permits to carry were required, as was the case in all the United States in 1791 when the Second Amendment, as part of the Bill of Rights, was ratified. The 25 states who have restored the right to carry handguns in most public places, openly or concealed are:
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
With the addition of Georgia, states, where no permit to carry, is required cover about 2,343,089 square miles or 61.6% of the land area of the United States.
Constitutional Carry has become a strong movement as people seek a return to a Constitutionally limited government in the United States. In 2002, only Vermont had Constitutional Carry. It had always maintained the right to carry without a permit, openly or concealed. In 2003 Alaska enacted a Constitutional Carry law. Arizona followed in 2010, Wyoming in 2011, and Arkansas in 2014. From 2015 to 2022, 20 more states joined the club.
Nebraska narrowly failed to join the club, by two votes in its unicameral legislature, the day before Governor Kemp signed Constitutional Carry in Georgia. Pennsylvania and Louisiana both passed bills with strong majorities, only to have Democrat governors veto them.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
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Summer is coming back!
Or, at least, so it seemed.
The landowners took issue with this and fought back.
Late yesterday, the Benton County Circuit Court ruled that a statute authorizing warrantless trespassing and surveillance by Tennessee game wardens is unconstitutional. The ruling is not just a victory for Benton County landowners Terry Rainwaters and Hunter Hollingsworth, who sued with the Institute for Justice (IJ) after the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) ignored their “No Trespassing” signs by entering and installing cameras on their land. The victory also applies broadly to private land across Tennessee.
“For too long, TWRA officers have treated private land like public property—entering without permission, spying on people without a warrant, and doing it all with no meaningful oversight,” said IJ Attorney Joshua Windham. “Thanks to the court’s ruling, Tennesseans can now rest easy knowing that they’re secure from these sorts of intrusions on their land.”
“The court’s decision to declare TWRA’s constant overreach and abuse of authority unconstitutional is restoring my faith in the justice system,” said Hunter Hollingsworth. “I’m grateful for the Institute for Justice’s hard work and dedication to preserving and restoring the rights of all property owners in Tennessee. Thanks also to my local attorney Jack Leonard, who has been with me on these issues from day one.”
In addition to finding the law enabling searches unconstitutional, the court granted Rainwaters’ and Hollingsworth’s request for $1 in damages as compensation for the violation of their constitutional rights. The TWRA has 30 days to appeal the decision to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
The issue was the state wildlife officials strapped a game camera to a tree on Hollingsworth’s and Rainwater’s respective properties as a way to monitor what they did on their own property.
This fell under something called the Open Fields Doctrine. Basically, the Supreme Court has said the police don’t need a warrant to search an open field you own, only your home and the property immediately surrounding the house.
It’s kind of like how the police don’t need a warrant to use evidence in plain view, only taken a step or two too far.
Officials in Tennessee took this idea and used it to justify placing trail cameras up on private property.
However, Tennessee takes a more narrow view of things like that, which is why this particular case went the way that it did.
What’s interesting, though, is that the Institute for Justice’s Fourth Amendment project–which was part of who represented the two landowners–has other cases, including a hunting club in Pennsylvania and a taxidermist in Ohio.
It’s interesting that all of these revolve around the hunting industry–and industry well associated with firearms.
Now, it’s entirely possible that it’s just a coincidence since it’s multiple states including some that are very pro-gun, but it’s still just enough to make me question it. Or maybe my tinfoil hat is just a bit too tight. After all, there are other Fourth Amendment cases IJ is pursuing that have nothing to do with hunting or the outdoors.
Either way, I’m glad Hollingsworth and Rainwater were victorious.
Gov. Eric Holcomb this week signed legislation that makes Indiana the 24th state to recognize one’s untrammeled right to keep and bear arms.
“The Second Amendment has been debated for years, yet time and again our U.S. Supreme Court has reaffirmed this important constitutional right that I fully support,” said Holcomb, a Republican, in a statement Monday.
“Twenty-three other states have laws comparable to HEA 1296. Vermont has had a constitutional carry law in place since it became a state, and several other states have had a similar law for more than a decade,” he continued.
“HEA 1296, which I’ve signed today, entrusts Hoosiers who can lawfully carry a handgun to responsibly do so within our State,” he said.
Holcomb also made it clear that prohibited persons (felons, minors, fugitives, drug addicts, mental defectives, etc.) are still banned from possessing firearms and will be prosecuted if they violate the relevant federal and state laws.
The governor also said that the state’s permitting system will remain in effect, at no charge, should Hoosiers want to obtain a permit for carry reciprocity with other states.
The NRA-ILA, which backed HB 1296, celebrated the move.
“The government should not mandate that law-abiding citizens get permission before exercising their fundamental, constitutional right to self defense,” said Jason Ouimet, executive director of NRA-ILA.
“We thank Gov. Holcomb, bill author Rep. Ben Smaltz, legislative leaders, and every lawmaker who supported this landmark legislation,” he added.
On the other side of the aisle, the Democrats panned the notion of permitless carry.
“A majority of Hoosiers told Indiana Republicans directly they opposed permitless carry,” said Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Mike Schmul in a statement.
“State law enforcement echoed their opposition to the measure a year after Republicans defunded their departments,” he said. “But unfortunately, Governor Eric Holcomb decided to put politics ahead of protecting the safety of Hoosier families by signing permitless carry into law.”
As GunsAmerica previously reported, there is no evidence that constitutional carry endangers public safety.
A recent study by the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) examining aggregated crime data from 13 states that passed constitutional carry found no statistically significant change in violent crime, police killings, and firearm homicide after the passage of such laws.
The study also showed a drop in the murder rate, which runs contrary to the “Wild West” narrative spun by critics of expanded 2A rights.
Along with Indiana, the following states have some form of constitutional carry: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
HB 1296 takes effect July 1, 2022.