We’ve covered for some time the so-called “safe storage” ordinance passed by Savannah city leaders and the resulting lawsuit challenging the ordinance on Second Amendment grounds.
Now, lawmakers in the Peach State have voted to put an end to the whole mess.
First, however, some background. Savannah passed an ordinance in April 2024 that requires firearms to be “securely stored” when left in cars and establishes a maximum penalty of $1,000 in fines and 30 days in jail for people who leave them inside unlocked vehicles. It also mandates that those who have had a firearm stolen report the theft to the Savannah Police Department within 24 hours.
Gun-rights organizations and pro-gun lawmakers believe the ordinance violates Georgia’s firearms preemption law. And a subsequent lawsuit argued just that.
More recently, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr jumped into the fray, saying that the ordinance simply doesn’t meet court muster.
“This misguided attempt to punish law-abiding Georgians does absolutely nothing to address crime, and it won’t hold up in Court,” Carr said in a press release announcing that he had filed a brief with the Superior Court of Chatham County in support of the plaintiffs in a case challenging the law. “No matter how much the Mayor disagrees with our laws, he cannot openly infringe on the Second Amendment rights of our citizens. Progressive politics aren’t a defense for government overreach.”
Before the trial could start, the state Senate on January 13 voted along party lines to ban cities from requiring gun owners to lock up their guns in cars, the first bill approved in this year’s legislative session.
The legislation was approved in the Senate by a 32-21 vote. The state House had passed the measure last April 4, and it now heads to Gov. Brian Kemp for his consideration.
The controversy centers on whether the city ordinance violates the state’s strong firearms preemption laws. Sponsors and supporters of the measure in both the House and Senate say it does.
And indeed, a general reading of the law suggests it runs afoul of the language. That law states: “No county or municipal corporation, by zoning, by ordinance or resolution, or by any other means, nor any agency, board, department, commission, political subdivision, school district, or authority of this state, other than the General Assembly, by rule or regulation or by any other means shall regulate in any manner: (A) Gun shows; (B) The possession, ownership, transport, carrying, transfer, sale, purchase, licensing, or registration of firearms or other weapons or components of firearms or other weapons; (C) Firearms dealers or dealers of other weapons; or (D) Dealers in components of firearms or other weapons.”
One supporter, state Sen. Colton Moore, stated that the bill would safeguard gun owners’ rights.
“You can travel the state freely knowing you’re not going to be a victim of a crime and then be made a criminal as we’ve seen in Savannah,” Moore said during the Senate debate on the bill. “We’re putting freedom back into the hands of the citizenry.”
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