Georgia Legislature Moves to Nullify Savannah's Firearm Storage Regulation

The Georgia House of Representatives has taken action against a Savannah city ordinance that imposes penalties on individuals who leave firearms in unlocked vehicles. On April 4, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 204, which aims to invalidate the local regulation that has been a point of contention between state and municipal authorities.

Savannah's controversial ordinance established fines and possible incarceration for residents who fail to secure firearms in their vehicles. This municipal rule appears to conflict with Georgia's firearms preemption statute, which restricts local governments from creating their own gun regulations.

A previous legal challenge to the ordinance met an unexpected outcome in December when Chatham County Superior Court Judge Benjamin Karpf dismissed the case. Rather than ruling on whether the ordinance violated state law, Judge Karpf determined that the plaintiff, Clarence Belt, lacked standing to pursue the lawsuit because he wasn't a Savannah resident and hadn't been cited under the ordinance.

Georgia's firearms preemption law is explicit in its limitations on local authority. The statute prohibits counties, municipalities, and other governmental subdivisions from regulating "in any manner" aspects including "the possession, ownership, transport, carrying, transfer, sale, purchase, licensing, or registration of firearms or other weapons or components of firearms or other weapons."

House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration expressed his view on the matter to savannahnow.com, stating: "Municipalities are a creation of this body. If they are circumventing the laws of this state, it needs to be corrected."

Representative Alan Powell, who sponsored the measure, questioned the rationale behind Savannah's ordinance. "Why would a city pass a law to penalize someone who is a victim of a crime?" Powell asked fellow House members. "That's not justice."