Atlanta to comply with law
The mayor doesn’t like it, but the city is no longer stopping people with legal weapon permits from carrying their weapons into Hartsfield-Jackson airport.
“The fact of the matter is, we’re complying with state law, so it’s not something where we had a choice,” said Mayor Kasim Reed.
The city quietly changed its enforcement after attorneys re-read a state law enacted this year. SB 308 eases restrictions on weapons in public places.
December 10th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Heh SB 308. What’s better that or texas bill 30-06?
December 10th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
Nice to see an anti gunner who will uphold the law…
December 10th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
From the article:
“Georgia Carry pushed SB 291, which would have specifically allowed guns in the airport terminal. The legislature passed it, but Governor Perdue vetoed it.
It turns out the city now interprets the language in SB 308 to also allow permit-holding gun owners to carry in the airport.”
That’s a /huge/ swing — enough so to make me a tad suspicious. The City of Atlanta and Fulton County are very much NOT gun-friendly.
December 10th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
Something weird is going on here, didn’t a federal judge rule that they could ban firearms there?
December 10th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
How about MARTA ?
December 10th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
We were good on MARTA already. It was some judge who read the law and said ‘I see what y’all wrote here, but I don’t think that’s what y’all meant’ and made the airport off limits. Thankfully, a city lawyer read the actual words in the law. and, yes, MARTA terminates in the unsecure area of the airport.
December 10th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
ATL just got dinged with a $1 million civil judgment for the way some cops treated gays in a bar. GCO was still pushing against Judge Shoob’s bias, the guy that said ‘Hartsfield is different, above the law’. Gov. Perdue will be unemployed soon. The lawyers probably saw another costly lawsuit pending. I’ll settle for CC at Hartsfield for the near future, wait for the media storm to settle, still don’t trust ATL LEOs not to taser me for ‘inciting riot’. We got important work to do in 2011 with church carry and unlicensed OC, need today’s news to be seen as a complete non-event, absolutely no ‘in your face’ show of OC gatherings at Hartsfield.
December 10th, 2010 at 11:37 pm
The airport cannot ban firearms of their own power, there is state preemption. However the judge said the state law that was meant to allow airport carry did not actually allow airport carry.
So the law was changed again in 2010. The 2010 change in the law is what they decided actually does allow carry.
December 11th, 2010 at 9:01 pm
Who is a greater threat to the freedom on an American citizen: The Taliban…or a US state, Fed or local government employee?
December 11th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
“The mayor doesn’t like it”
Tough shit. There are a lot of laws I don’t fucking like, but I obey them anyway.
December 11th, 2010 at 11:40 pm
Speaking of laws, I could have sworn there was all sorts of stuff on here about TN changing it’s laws about guns in places that serve alcohol. So why does the Red Lobster in Pigeon Forge have a sign up saying it’s a misdemeanor to have a gun in there?
December 13th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
While I would like to legally carry at Hartsfield, I still think it’s actually illegal. The new law, SB308, placed off limits what it calls “government buildings” (as opposed to the old prohibition against carry in “publicly owned or operated” buildings).
The new law goes on to define what is a “government building.” The list includes any building which “houses” as government agency. The City of Atlanta’s Department of Aviation is headquartered (housed) in the main terminal building at Hartsfield.
To me, this keeps the building off limits, legally.
I do not intend to be the guinea pig to test this theory.