Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp signed a law on Tuesday to make Georgia a constitutional carry state, allowing residents to carry handguns without a license or needing to get background check to get a permit.
SB 319 was signed just over a month after the Republican-led state Senate passed the legislation, making Georgia the 25th constitutional carry state in the nation.
“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.”
The state’s GOP lawmakers had argued that the existing carry permit infringed on the Second Amendment rights of its citizens.
Kemp also addressed the concerns some in his state have with changing the previous law.
“There is no doubt that we are in challenging times,” Kemp told reporters, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“People don’t have to carry if they don’t want to,” he added. “But this is a constitutional authority that people have, and they certainly shouldn’t have a piece of paper from the government to be able to legally carry a weapon.”
A second bill, HB 218, signed on Tuesday by the governor, also allows concealed carry permit holders from other states to legally carry in Georgia.
“HB 218 ensures that individuals who are licensed to carry in another state are also authorized to do so here in Georgia,” he said, according to Newsmax.
The signing comes as Kemp faces a strong primary challenge against former Georgia Republican Sen. David Perdue. Perdue has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump. Georgia’s primary is set for May 24.
The new constitutional carry law was also signed just after President Joe Biden renewed his push to ban semi-automatic long guns in a Monday speech that focused on what his administration is doing to crack down on Second Amendment rights. The Daily Wire reported:
“We need Congress to pass universal background checks, universal background checks, and I know it’s controversial but I got it done once, ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines,” Biden shouted.
Biden then suggested that people do not need what he claims are high-capacity magazines because deer do not wear “Kevlar vests.”
The event was primarily focused on the administration issuing a final rule to curb the proliferation of so-called “ghost guns” which are privately made firearms that do not have a serial number and thus do not require a background check to obtain key components needed to build the firearm.
The other 24 states that have a constitutional carry law are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, 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.