ATLANTA – The Georgia House of Representatives passed legislation Friday aimed at a gun ordinance the Savannah City Council passed last year.
The ordinance prohibits storing firearms in unlocked vehicles, with violators subject to a $1,000 fine and 30 days in jail.
While House Republicans opposed the ordinance on its merits as infringing on gun owners’ Second Amendment rights, much of Friday’s debate centered around GOP arguments that state law preempts local ordinances.
“Municipalities are a creation of this body,” said House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration, R-Mulberry. “If they are circumventing the laws of this state, it needs to be corrected.”
Rep. Anne Allen Westbrook, D-Savannah, defended the city’s right to pass an ordinance regulating guns, arguing council members in her city saw the need to discourage motorists from leaving their guns unlocked. She said 266 firearms were reported stolen from vehicles in Savannah last year, with 228 taken from unlocked vehicles.
“We are a city that is visited by people from all over the world,” Westbrook said. “We want you to have a good time. … We’re just asking that people lock their cars. Is that unreasonable to ask?”
But Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, who presented Senate Bill 204 on the House floor, said the Savannah ordinance doesn’t go after the right target, criminals who steal guns.
“Why would a city pass a law to penalize someone who is a victim of a crime?” Powell asked his House colleagues. “That’s not justice.”
Senate Bill 204 declares that regulating firearms is an issue of “general, statewide concern” and prohibits local governments from stepping in to regulate them.
The House passed the bill 99-74 late Friday afternoon along party lines, sending it back to the Senate, where it originated. Senators were expected to vote on final passage of the measure Friday night, with the General Assembly facing a midnight deadline to wrap up the 2025 legislative session.