As a bill to allow permitless carry of firearms moves through the Georgia General Assembly, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is hosting a Second Amendment rally featuring several national-level conservative politicians Saturday.
Beginning at noon, the “Shall not be Infringed” rally is being held at the Coosa Valley Fairgrounds in Rome.
The flyer promises Greene, former White House strategist and broadcaster Steven Bannon, military veteran and firearms instructor with the Warrior Poets Society John Lovell, U.S. Rep. and Georgia Secretary of State candidate Jody Hice, U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, “and other 2A Champions,” the event’s flyer says, referring to the Second Amendment.
Greene’s campaign has also said appearances are expected by Dianna Muller, founder of the DC Project, a women’s gun rights group; David Perdue, former Georgia senator and candidate for governor; and Lucretia Hughes, host of “Real News” and a conservative activist.
The venue can hold from 500 to 750 people, and there will be food trucks and refreshments for sale.
From 10 a.m. to noon, there will be a live broadcast of Bannon’s WarRoom podcast. U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker was scheduled to speak but dropped out after Greene spoke at a rally organized by a political commentator who expressed support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and is known for antisemitism.
A request for comment from the Walker campaign wasn’t returned before deadline.
The rally’s name is a reference to the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which reads: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
Supporters of Georgia’s permitless carry bill call it a “constitutional carry” bill, also referring to the Second Amendment.
Sponsored by Dallas state Sen. Jason Anavitarte, the Constitutional Carry of Act 2021 passed the Senate with a party-line vote Monday and is heading now to the House.
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Anavitarte said on the Senate floor Monday that criminals don’t follow the law, and law-abiding citizens shouldn’t have the government “slow walk” their constitutional right to defend themselves. He said gun sales have gone up during the pandemic and the protests during the summer of 2020.
“The growing response by law-abiding constituents hearing these terrible stories is to go buy a gun and protect themselves,” Anavitarte said.
Speaking against the bill on the floor of the Senate at the same hearing Monday, several Democrats pointed to a steep rise in gun violence and suicides in Georgia.
Sen. Michelle Au, a Democrat from Johns Creek, wanted to add an amendment that would require a background check for private gun sales. She said one-fourth of U.S. gun sales were made without a background check, referencing a 2017 study by the Annals of Internal Medicine, an academic medical journal.
Her amendment failed.
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On July 1, Tennessee’s permitless carry law went into effect.
The Tennessee law applies to concealed and open-carried handguns but does not apply to long guns, according to reporting from The Associated Press. The law applies to adults over 21 and military members 18 to 20 years old, with an exception for people with criminal convictions or certain mental illnesses.
Georgia’s permitless carry law wouldn’t override federal law barring some from gun possession, Anavitarte said during the hearing.
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A bill that adds a separate criminal charge for every firearm illegally possessed by convicted felons, Senate Bill 479, was also passed by senators during that hearing. Senate Bill 259 was also moved to the House. That bill would prevent government officials from sharing county information on firearm possessors with outside organizations.
Speaking on the assembly floor during that same session, Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, said, “It’s not proper for people’s private and personal information to be transmitted all across the state and nation. So they can only use it in that county to deal with issues regarding the Second Amendment.”
Both Mullis and Gov. Brian Kemp listed permitless/constitutional carry as one of their priorities this legislative session.
Contact Andrew Wilkins at awilkins@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659. Follow him on Twitter @tweetatwilkins.