GCO received the following email from Fayette County Commissioner Maxwell, and I provide it here after obtaining his permission:

Subject: Fayette County Weapons Ordinance

 Ed & John,

The County Administrator has emailed me and indicated that the “weapons” ordinance has been taken off the Agenda for tomorrow.  I believe that the Chairman will simply state that, “The item has been removed from the Agenda.”  I do not anticipate any discussion (but you never know).  I have personally spoken with two other Commissioners that are against the proposed ordinance (I am opposed as well) so I see no way that the ordinance would pass.  The Commission probably does need to address vandalism and fireworks.  If this thing heats up I will get you involved, hopefully before it makes the papers this time.  I do want to say thank you for your diligent monitoring of our Second Amendment.

Eric

The Fayette Citizen published an article on Fayette County’s proposed ordinance, complete with an interview with John Monroe, GCO Vice President, and a mention of the litigation in Coweta County.  The article is surprisingly well written.  Below is a short quote from the article.

When told about Fayette’s proposed ordinance, Georgiacarry.org’s attorney John Monroe was very succinct in his opinion.

“That ordinance would be pre-empted by state law,” he said.

Currently, Monroe said, he knows of eight counties in Georgia that have enacted similar ordinances. Two counties have voluntarily repealed the ordinance and the other counties are having discussions with the gun rights group. Currently, Coweta County is the only county involved in court litigation.

“There are only three areas local governments can regulate firearms: The carrying of weapons by employees, the requirement of ownership by the head of a household and the limiting of discharging firearms within its jurisdiction,” the attorney added.

In the lawsuit with Coweta County, Monroe is asking for the ordinance to be voided.

Please click on the link to read the entire article.

On Thursday, May 10, 2007, at 7:00 p.m., the Fayette County Parks and Recreation Commission is requesting that the Board of Commissioners in Fayette County adopt an ordinance that would prohibit the possession of firearms in Fayette County parks.  The text of the proposal follows:

Sec. 14-2  Weapons

It shall be unlawful for any person to use or possess in any Fayette County park, historic site, or recreation area any firearms, bows and arrows, spring guns, air rifles, slingshots, or any other device which discharges projectiles by any means, unless the device is unloaded and stored so as not to be readily accessible or unless such use has been approved by the Fayette County Board of Commissioners.

GCO urges its members to show up and be heard in opposition to this gun ban ordinance on Thursday evening when the gun ban will be considered.  The location and other information relating to the Board of Commissioners is here. 

GCO’s letter to Fayette County Commissioner Eric Maxwell, delivered today, is here.

The Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Safety has filed an answer to a complaint in federal court.  The lawsuit is based on a GCO member’s inability to get a Georgia firearms license in Carroll County because of the member’s election not to disclose his social security number.  This is the case that was dismissed by the federal district court and reversed by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.  The answer, along with other court documents, can be viewed here:

http://www.georgiacarry.com/camp

25 years ago, Kennesaw adopted an ordinance that required the head of every household to own and maintain a firearm.  The anti-liberty forces predicted murder and mayhem.

In a column titled “Gun Town USA,” Art Buchwald suggested Kennesaw would soon become a place where routine disagreements between neighbors would be settled in shootouts.

As this article notes, there has not been a gun murder in Kennesaw in 25 years . . .

GCO calls on the City of Kennesaw to repeal its inconsistent ordinance banning firearms in city parks.  After all, the gun ban ordinance is preempted by state law, and it is simply inconsistent with Kennesaw’s image as a safe haven for peaceable citizens to keep and bear arms.

As many of you already know, GCO has been urging Gwinnett County to repeal its preempted gun ban since last year, when GCO member Steve Neisler brought the gun ban and the park signs to his commissioner’s attention.  The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners first turned this issue over to its parks department, which predictably determined that the ordinance was not preempted.  After GCO wrote the entire commission, the county took the issue more seriously, and turned it over to the county attorney.

It has now been three months, so GCO decided to follow up with the county attorney on the status of her investigation into the matter.  You may read the letter here.

Complete Gwinnett County correspondence is here.

GCO has offered to speak to probate judges and clerks at training sessions held periodically by the Georgia Council of Probate Judges.  A copy of the letter can be viewed here:

http://www.georgiacarry.com/county/Judge Griffin 5-1-07.pdf