Danger Dave
New member
"Study: State gun laws lacking
By Alan Judd, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia has so few gun control laws that a new study ranks it among the nation's worst states for preventing firearms violence.
Unlike 39 other states, Georgia has no law prohibiting children younger than 18 from possessing handguns. Unlike 18 states, it doesn't hold parents criminally responsible when a child uses their gun to wound or kill a person. Georgia has no laws regulating assault weapons or cheap handguns known as "Saturday Night Specials." It places no limit on how many weapons a person can purchase. It requires no check of whether buyers in private gun sales have a history of criminal activity or mental illness.
The study by the New York-based Open Society Institute, to be released today, says that Georgia led the way among the 13 states that restrict liability lawsuits against the firearms industry. And it is one of 40 states that prohibit local governments from adopting gun control laws.
The report, "Gun Control in the United States: A Comparative Study of Firearms Laws," put Georgia's overall score at minus-5 percent--lower than all but six other states. Georgia earned its negative score from the laws preventing firearms litigation and local gun laws.
The report's findings came as no surprise to Georgia gun control advocates.
"We knew that Georgia was one of the worst," said Alice Johnson of Georgians United Against Violence. The group has lobbied the General Assembly for new firearms laws, with little success. "We knew that the Georgia Legislature has been unwilling to do anything much to address the issue of accessibility of firearms . . . or in any way to require responsibility on the part of gun owners."
However, the study did not take into account laws in Georgia and elsewhere that impose tough penalties on those who use guns to commit crimes. Georgia lawmakers approved a bill this year increasing minimum sentences for several gun-related offenses. Gov. Roy Barnes, who drafted the bill, declined through a spokeswoman to comment on the study.
Gil Kline, a spokesman for the Open Society Institute, said the study focused on laws intended to prevent gun violence.
"We were looking at gun control laws," he said, "not enforcement laws."
The study cites "severely low levels" of firearms laws; the average state score was 9 percent. It says 35 states require no licensing or registration of weapons, while 32 require no background checks for people who buy guns in private sales, such as at gun shows. Seven states, including Georgia, have no legal minimum age for a child to buy a rifle or shotgun from an unlicensed dealer.
The National Rifle Association disputed the study's findings, insisting that firearms already are heavily regulated.
"They ignore a whole body of laws," said Bill Powers, an NRA spokesman. "It somehow says there aren't all these state laws, so we need federal laws. There are state laws, and there are federal laws--thousands of them."
Regardless, many states have considered new gun laws, particularly ones that restrict juvenile access to firearms, mandate locking devices on weapons and require background checks to complete private gun sales, said Kelly Anders, who tracks the issue for the National Conference of State Legislatures. But many such proposals are greeted with hostility.
"It's a topic that everyone's very emotional about," Anders said. "Results are not easy to come by."
That certainly has been the case in Georgia. A few lawmakers, notably Sen. David Scott (D-Atlanta), have sponsored bills to make it a crime to negligently leave handguns within easy reach of children and to limit individuals to a single firearms purchase per month. But those bills have drawn intense opposition from the NRA, which counts 90,000 members in Georgia and has contributed significant sums to state political campaigns.
Scott hopes the new study builds momentum to enact gun laws in Georgia.
"It's going to require the leadership of the governor, the lieutenant governor and the speaker (of the House), along with the National Rifle Association," Scott said. "Those are the four entities that, I think, need to look at this information in relationship to our state and how we look against the nation as a whole. . . . Nothing will move until that happens."
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About the sponsor
The Open Society Institute is one of the nonprofit foundations funded by philanthropist George Soros of New York. Soros gives away several hundred million dollars a year, mostly in emerging democracies in Eastern Europe, according to news reports. In the United States, the Open Society Institute's activities include working to eliminate inequities in the distribution of wealth. In recent years, the organization's Center on Crime, Communities and Culture has sought to reduce gun violence and what it terms "excessive incarceration." The institute funded the gun control study along with the Funders' Collaborative for Gun Violence Prevention, which consists of the institute, the Irene Diamond Fund and other foundations."
________________________________________
I loved this bit:
Gil Kline, a spokesman for the Open Society Institute, said the study focused on laws intended to prevent gun violence.
"We were looking at gun control laws," he said, "not enforcement laws."
In other words, "We only care about controlling guns, not criminals."
By Alan Judd, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia has so few gun control laws that a new study ranks it among the nation's worst states for preventing firearms violence.
Unlike 39 other states, Georgia has no law prohibiting children younger than 18 from possessing handguns. Unlike 18 states, it doesn't hold parents criminally responsible when a child uses their gun to wound or kill a person. Georgia has no laws regulating assault weapons or cheap handguns known as "Saturday Night Specials." It places no limit on how many weapons a person can purchase. It requires no check of whether buyers in private gun sales have a history of criminal activity or mental illness.
The study by the New York-based Open Society Institute, to be released today, says that Georgia led the way among the 13 states that restrict liability lawsuits against the firearms industry. And it is one of 40 states that prohibit local governments from adopting gun control laws.
The report, "Gun Control in the United States: A Comparative Study of Firearms Laws," put Georgia's overall score at minus-5 percent--lower than all but six other states. Georgia earned its negative score from the laws preventing firearms litigation and local gun laws.
The report's findings came as no surprise to Georgia gun control advocates.
"We knew that Georgia was one of the worst," said Alice Johnson of Georgians United Against Violence. The group has lobbied the General Assembly for new firearms laws, with little success. "We knew that the Georgia Legislature has been unwilling to do anything much to address the issue of accessibility of firearms . . . or in any way to require responsibility on the part of gun owners."
However, the study did not take into account laws in Georgia and elsewhere that impose tough penalties on those who use guns to commit crimes. Georgia lawmakers approved a bill this year increasing minimum sentences for several gun-related offenses. Gov. Roy Barnes, who drafted the bill, declined through a spokeswoman to comment on the study.
Gil Kline, a spokesman for the Open Society Institute, said the study focused on laws intended to prevent gun violence.
"We were looking at gun control laws," he said, "not enforcement laws."
The study cites "severely low levels" of firearms laws; the average state score was 9 percent. It says 35 states require no licensing or registration of weapons, while 32 require no background checks for people who buy guns in private sales, such as at gun shows. Seven states, including Georgia, have no legal minimum age for a child to buy a rifle or shotgun from an unlicensed dealer.
The National Rifle Association disputed the study's findings, insisting that firearms already are heavily regulated.
"They ignore a whole body of laws," said Bill Powers, an NRA spokesman. "It somehow says there aren't all these state laws, so we need federal laws. There are state laws, and there are federal laws--thousands of them."
Regardless, many states have considered new gun laws, particularly ones that restrict juvenile access to firearms, mandate locking devices on weapons and require background checks to complete private gun sales, said Kelly Anders, who tracks the issue for the National Conference of State Legislatures. But many such proposals are greeted with hostility.
"It's a topic that everyone's very emotional about," Anders said. "Results are not easy to come by."
That certainly has been the case in Georgia. A few lawmakers, notably Sen. David Scott (D-Atlanta), have sponsored bills to make it a crime to negligently leave handguns within easy reach of children and to limit individuals to a single firearms purchase per month. But those bills have drawn intense opposition from the NRA, which counts 90,000 members in Georgia and has contributed significant sums to state political campaigns.
Scott hopes the new study builds momentum to enact gun laws in Georgia.
"It's going to require the leadership of the governor, the lieutenant governor and the speaker (of the House), along with the National Rifle Association," Scott said. "Those are the four entities that, I think, need to look at this information in relationship to our state and how we look against the nation as a whole. . . . Nothing will move until that happens."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About the sponsor
The Open Society Institute is one of the nonprofit foundations funded by philanthropist George Soros of New York. Soros gives away several hundred million dollars a year, mostly in emerging democracies in Eastern Europe, according to news reports. In the United States, the Open Society Institute's activities include working to eliminate inequities in the distribution of wealth. In recent years, the organization's Center on Crime, Communities and Culture has sought to reduce gun violence and what it terms "excessive incarceration." The institute funded the gun control study along with the Funders' Collaborative for Gun Violence Prevention, which consists of the institute, the Irene Diamond Fund and other foundations."
________________________________________
I loved this bit:
Gil Kline, a spokesman for the Open Society Institute, said the study focused on laws intended to prevent gun violence.
"We were looking at gun control laws," he said, "not enforcement laws."
In other words, "We only care about controlling guns, not criminals."
