GCO has filed an amendment to its complaint against Athens-Clarke County and its ban on carrying in parks. The amended complaint adds additional claims, including civil rights violations. The amended complaint may be viewed here.

Roswell City Attorney David Davidson is quoted in the Roswell Beacon as saying Roswell will suspend enforcement of its ban on carrying firearms in city parks, in deference to the Court of Appeals’ decision in GCO’s case against Coweta County. The Court of Appeals ruling is the rule of law in the state at this time and the city of Roswell will comply, Davidson said. The full article may be read here.

GCO and Athens have been called to court by the judge presiding over the lawsuit challenging the Athens Clarke County preempted ordinance banning guns from its parks.  In the wake of the Georgia Court of Appeals ruling holding that the “plain language” of the state preemption statute bans local governments from regulating “in any manner” the “carrying” of firearms, Judge Jones set a hearing for January 4, 2008.

The Athens Banner Herald ran an article this morning announcing the news.

The Georgia Court of Appeals ruled against Coweta County on Dec. 4 in a similar challenge filed by GeorgiaCarry.org, a Fayetteville-based group that advocates more freedom for gun owners. A three-judge panel unanimously overturned a June Coweta County Superior Court decision upholding the Coweta County law.

The appeals court decision sets a statewide precedent, but Athens-Clarke Attorney Bill Berryman said he thinks Coweta officials may ask the appeals court to reconsider its decision or ask the state Supreme Court to issue a final ruling.

. . .

GeorgiaCarry.org asked Athens-Clarke officials in November to lift its ban on guns in parks on behalf of Donald Walker, a retired Athens police officer. The organization says state law prohibits cities and counties from restricting where people can carry guns.

In most of the dozen communities where GeorgiaCarry.org has challenged gun restrictions, officials decided to ditch the law. But Athens-Clarke Mayor Heidi Davison and commissioners decided to fight the year-old group’s efforts to overturn the law in Athens.

Since GCO’s victory in the Georgia Court of Appeals, it has been difficult keeping up with posting the news articles. Here are several from the last few days.

Court of Appeals Rejects County’s Firearms Ordinance?Fayette Citizen, December 6, 2007

Coweta Ruling Bodes Ill for Ban on Guns in Parks Athens Banner Herald, December 7, 2007

Thompson: Looking at the World through a Gun Sight?Athens Banner Herald, December 9, 2007 - In this opinion piece, Thompson implies that we are all paranoid and delusional for thinking that we might be the victim of a criminal attack in a park.??Thompson states, “GeorgiaCarry.org, a gun-rights group claiming several hundred members, is working - successfully, as it turns out - to force its sad vision of how people should have to live on a number of communities, including Athens-Clarke County.” Forcing our vision?? I thought it was the gun banners who wanted to put people in jail for carrying firearms?in parks. Is anybody proposing jailing people for not carrying a firearm?? Which side is “forcing” its vision on the other?

The Newnan Times Herald reported GCO’s victory in the Georgia Court of Appeals, and the county attorney is quoted indicating that he will present the court’s decision to the Board of Commissioners before any decision is made on appealing to the Supreme Court. From the end of the news story:

“We are pleased the court of appeals saw the clear and obvious preemption of Coweta County’s ordinance by state law,” said John Monroe, lead attorney for Georgia Carry.

“Coweta County residents and park visitors all can feel safer now, knowing that the county’s attempt to make its parks ‘victim disarmament zones’ has been thwarted.”

The order is still subject to review, said Lee, though he doesn’t expect any major changes. When a final order is issued, he will present it to the commissioners, who will decide whether to appeal the decision.

Georgia has a statewide preemption law, but a small minority of Georgia cities and counties insist on violating it by enacting local ordinances regulating the carry and possession of firearms. GCO has been alone on the front lines of enforcing the state preemption statute against recalcitrant local governments. As a result, on December 4, 2007, a unanimous panel of the Georgia Court of Appeals issued a concise opinion holding that the preemption statute means exactly what it says in “plain language.”

[W]e are mindful of the “golden rule” of statutory construction, which requires that we follow the literal language of the statute unless doing so “produces contradiction, absurdity or such an inconvenience as to insure that the legislature meant something else.” And the plain language of the statute expressly precludes a county from regulating “in any manner [the]. . . carrying . . . of firearms.” Under these circumstances, the preemption is express, and the trial court erred in concluding otherwise.

(Emphasis added). You may read the entire Court of Appeals opinion here. GCO wishes to thank attorney John Monroe for his diligent efforts on behalf of GCO and the right to bear arms in Georgia.

Athens-Clarke County has filed their answer in to GCO’s complaint regarding their ban of firearms in parks. Their answer is basically that the ban is a proper exercise of their legislative powers under GA’s constitution. They deny everything in relation to Georgia’s law preempting cities and counties from banning the transport of firearms. Their answer can be viewed here.

GCO and Cherokee County Probate Judge Kipling McVay have resolved a federal lawsuit brought by GCO and member Rebecca Breed over Judge McVay’s practice of requiring SSNs of GFL applicants. In the settlement, Judge McVay will be ordered by the federal court not to request SSNs of GFL applicants and to expunge from her records the SSNs of GCO members. GCO members as of November 21, 2007 may send an email with their name and date of birth to vicepresident@georgiacarry.org, requesting that their SSN be expunged from Judge McVay’s records. In order to qualify, members must have applied for a GFL in Cherokee County, but they need not be current Cherokee County residents. Requests must be received by December 14, 2007.

The order is available here.

GCO filed a motion with the Fulton Superior Court asking the Court to stop the City of Atlanta and other defendants from enforcing their preempted ordinances and arresting people like you who are lawfully carrying firearms. The City of Atlanta filed a motion asking the Fulton County Superior Court to stay GCO’s lawsuit against Atlanta and five other Fulton entities for banning the carry of firearms in their parks. Atlanta wants the court to sit on the case until after the Court of Appeals rules in the Coweta County case, which means that Atlanta wants to delay the case and continue threatening arrest and prosecution of GCO members until the spring of 2008. GCO’s response to Atlanta’s motion, and other briefs in the case may be viewed here.