Finally, a politician worth voting for!
Georgia State Representative Tim Bearden will be exercising his Second Amendment rights to keep and bear arms in spite of the city of Atlanta declaring Harstfield-Jackson International Airport a “gun-free zone.” And Bearden has dared Atlanta to arrest him.
As of July 1, a new Georgia state law goes into effect. Reforming Georgia’s concealed carry law, Georgians can now carry a concealed firearm in more places, including places of public transit. The law would presumably allow a CCW license holder to carry a firearm in the non-secure areas of an airport. Federal law prohibits firearms in the secure areas.
The city of Atlanta, though, feels they can usurp state law and arrest anyone carrying a firearm in the unsecured areas. The general manager of Hartsfield-Jackson, Ben DeCosta, believes he has the authority to arrest anyone with a firearm, regardless of state law. DeCosta has said he can identify Bearden and will have him arrested if he shows up at the airport while exercising his rights as a citizen.
Bearden will be picking up family members and has dared the city to interfere with him. “I have a permit, and I have family I have to pick up at the airport tomorrow [Tuesday],” Bearden told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday. “I’ll have one [a concealed weapon] with me at all times.”
In case anyone is wondering, Bearden is an active member of the NRA, a retired police officer, and a veteran of the U.S. Air Force.
Feel free to contact Bearden with your support:
Coverdell Legislative Office Building
Suite 607
Atlanta, GA 30334
Office: (404) 656-0287
e-mail: tim.bearden@house.ga.gov
Feel free to contact Hartsfield-Jackson Airport and let them know your thoughts also:
6000 North Terminal Parkway Suite 435
Atlanta, GA 30320
Phone: (404) 209-2954
From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
You could call it the Atlanta version of “High Noon.”
Top city officials will announce Tuesday that despite a new state gun law that went into effect at midnight, they will have anyone carrying a weapon at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport arrested. The state lawmaker who sponsored the new gun law says if they do, the city will immediately be sued. And state Rep. Tim Bearden (R-Villa Rica) said the plaintiff in the lawsuit could be himself.
“I have a permit, and I have family I have to pick up at the airport tomorrow [Tuesday],” Bearden told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday. “I’ll have one [a concealed weapon] with me at all times.”
Airport General Manager Ben DeCosta said if Bearden shows up at the world’s busiest airport with a gun, he’ll be busted.
“I can identify him, and I’ll have him arrested,” DeCosta said Monday. “We’re not fooling around. This is a post-terrorism environment.”
The new law, which Bearden sponsored, permits licensed gun owners to carry concealed firearms in parks, on public transportation and in restaurants that serve liquor. The law takes effect Tuesday.
Firearms proponents hailed the law as a victory for the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. They say law-abiding citizens with the appropriate permits should be allowed to carry firearms in formerly forbidden areas for self-protection.
Before the new law was passed, Georgia law banned guns from venues like public transportation and restaurants serving alcohol. More than 40 other states permit guns on public transportation, Bearden said, and 37 allow permit holders to carry weapons into restaurants.
“I was in law enforcement for 15 years,” Bearden said as the bill awaited the governor’s signature two months ago. “I never rode up on a shooting in progress. I don’t like the idea of the police telling you, ‘Get mugged, get raped, get murdered. We’ll come by, take the report, or send flowers.’ That’s the wrong message.”
Opponents, however, blasted the proposal, saying it has the potential to spark more violence than it stops. DeCosta wrote to Gov. Sonny Perdue asking him to veto the bill, and Mayor Shirley Franklin and MARTA officials publicly lambasted the idea. MARTA bus drivers gathered more than 1,000 signatures on petitions demanding bulletproof shields.
Federal law already bans guns past the security checkpoints at U.S. airports. The new state law, however, apparently would permit guns to be carried on the non-secure side of Hartsfield-Jackson by people who have gone through a background check and have been certified to carry a weapon. Licensed gun owners would be permitted to carry weapons on public transportation coming into the airport, its lobby and in restaurants outside the security checkpoints.
DeCosta said he will use the first day the new law takes effect to declare Hartsfield-Jackson a “gun-free” zone.
“We’re going to make it clear that the law does not make any allowance for guns at the airport,” DeCosta said. “Guns are not appropriate for any airport in Georgia.”
He and Franklin plan a 10 a.m. news conference to discuss the new gun law.
Bearden said the new law clearly permits guns in some areas of the airport.
“They are not appropriate once you go past security,” he said. “But in parking lots or restaurants or public transportation, they are OK.”
The state lawmaker said the city does not have the authority to defy a state law, and if they make arrests they will end up in court.
DeCosta said city officials will not back down from their position on the new law and again vowed to have Bearden or anyone else carrying a gun on airport property arrested.
“He can then have all the NRA [National Rifle Association] lawyers say why it’s OK for him to bring a gun to the airport,” DeCosta said.
MARTA, meanwhile, released a statement late Monday noting that state law prohibits firearms on public transit unless the carrier has a valid license to carry a gun.
“This license must be carried at any time that an individual is carrying a firearm on MARTA,” the statement said.
5 responses so far ↓
1 notahack // Jul 1, 2008 at 5:55 am
Oh boy its gonna be good.
2 beowulf // Jul 1, 2008 at 9:24 am
Umm, the City of Atlanta really should have left this for the lawyers to handle. There’s no legal basis to justify arrest, any words spoken will only cost the city more at the inevitable lawsuit.
If a cop arrests someone under a mistaken belief a crime had occurred, the judge (or desk sergeant if it doesn’t get that far) may give the cop a tongue lashing and let the defendant go, but the cop doesn’t face any further legal consequences.
Here, the airport general manager has informed the largest newspaper in the state that he’s aware of the state law, that he can personally identify the lawmaker and that he will have the lawmaker arrested. Way to punt away the good faith mistaken belief defense, idiot.
Wow, I hope the city counsel tells him to back f’ down , or he’s putting the city and himself on the hook for a Sect. 1983 Civil Rights action (depriving a person of a right under color of law), with both criminal and civil penalties possible.
The deprived right isn’t the one to bear arms, but rather, due process of law. A city can’t arrest someone for a crime that its aware isn’t actually a crime, the term for that is “false arrest”.
3 girlwbrain // Jul 1, 2008 at 9:31 am
Do responsible gun-owners REALLY think it’s a good idea for people to have guns at the airport? Pity the poor ticket-counter worker who announces a delayed flight! Let some other bozo take a gun to his kid’s school and see how he sleeps at night. I won’t be flying through Atlanta if this “Representative” has his way.
Responsible gun owners and the NRA should come down on the side of public safety and the. Mr. Bearden is not representing the public interest with his position. Rather, he is a bully saying, “I’ve got a gun, I’ve got a permit, and I only care about proving my point–screw you.” The NRA should distance themselves immediately from this kind of irresponsible gun policy.
4 admin // Jul 1, 2008 at 9:40 am
girlwbrain,
I fail to see how a citizen doing a legal act causes you, or anyone else, fear. The thugs down around the airport are the ones that should concern you.
Schools should also allow CCW permit holders to exercise the right to carry a handgun. Believe it or not, there are states that allow citizens to carry firearms onto school campuses. Oh, and those states have not had any mass shootings on school grounds.
I’m a cop, a lifetime NRA member, and most importantly a United States Citizen. Mr. Bearden and all law-abiding citizens should be allowed to carry a concealed firearm for their defense.
5 C Green // Jul 1, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Girlwbrain. If you really do have a brain use it. Most airports respect our civil right including the right to bear arms in non secure areas of the airport. None of your imagined fears has ever come to pass with law abiding gun owners. Law abiding gun owners licensed to carry concealed weapons are just that law abiding in fact the most law abiding segment of the population according to the FBI. We are the law abiding segment of the population who STOP 2.5 million violent crimes a years according to several university studies. Unlike you or those you know, we DO NOT flip out on ticket agents please do not displace your your short comings on us. If law abiding citizens with guns scare you than you may not want to leave your home because as many as one out of every five people you see on the streets is carrying a legally concealed weapon. Before attempting to take away peoples civil rights try doing some unbiased research, instead of relying on the paranoid imaginings of the anti self defense fanatics or hollywood movies. Quit helping rapists and murders by trying to take away our rights so that hey can have defenseless prey. Remember this every time you advocate disarming the law abiding you help a rapist robber or murdered. Don’t believe that go ask them if they prefer defenseless victims to prey upon or armed opponents
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