While doing background research on pending legislation, it was discovered that North Dakota’s website indicated they would recognize our GFL if contacted by the Georgia Attorney General’s office.  GCO sent a letter on February 10, 2010 requesting the Attorney General of Georgia to contact the Attorney General of North Dakota and request reciprocity.  The Attorney General’s office has  notified GCO of their intent to contact North Dakota and work for reciprocity.  Hopefully, your GFL will soon be recognized in the state of North Dakota. The original letter of request may be found here. The Attorney General’s notification letter to GCO may be found here.

A pro-gun enthusiast website called TheTruthAboutGuns.com did an article on the Waffle House Open Carry story involving GCO Member Matt Brannan and J.P. Mitchel  who were going about their normal routine and delayed a robbery by openly carrying their pistols.

When asked about how GeorgiaCarry.org feels about open carry, (Ed) Stone indicated it was a non-issue. “GCO takes no position on how its members carry, whether openly or concealed. As an issue of personal liberty, GCO’s position is that this should be up to the individual. Nobody should ever be put into a jail cell for peacefully exercising a civil right.”

Jerry Henry, the organization’s Executive Director and a practitioner of open carry himself, echoed Stone’s sentiments:

“As for GeorgiaCarry.org’s stand on open carry, we encourage you to be comfortable with how and what you carry.  The method of carry is a personal choice and should be left as such. Simply put, we are fighting for your right to carry.”

Regardless of how you feel about open carry, it certainly seems that two visible, citizen-carried .45’s deterred a crime at a Waffle House diner. But the more important issue is the continuing struggle for expanded gun rights in general, and the importance of providing real-life examples to a sometimes-undecided public of how guns can and do save lives on a regular basis.

“My Atlanta Gun Rights Examiners articles are meant to bring content that gun owners are not getting elsewhere,” Mr. Stone opined. “including interesting incidents like what happened with Matt and J.P. at the Wafflehouse. You just do not read stories like that in the local newspaper.”  The story my be found here.

GCO is happy to announce Mary Young has been appointed the Statewide Adopt-A-Highway Coordinator. Mary has been a member of GCO since January, 2009 and has been a very dependable and tireless gun show volunteer. It will be Mary’s responsibility to continue to get the Adopt-A-Highway program established throughout the state. Our goal is to have one adopted highway in each county of GA. This is a very tough goal that will take much time and work to attain, but Mary is the type person to get the job done. Mary can be reached at gcoadoptahighway@gmail.com.

Mary replaces Jerry Strange in the coordinator’s position. Jerry has taken on more responsibilities with both work and family duties and asked to be replaced. He felt he did not have the time needed to devote to accomplishing GCO’s goals. Jerry will continue to be available to volunteer for gun shows and has agreed to become the Coweta County Adopt-A- Highway coordinator. Please join in wishing both GCO Members good luck in their future endeavors.

GCO sent a letter last week asking the Attorney General to recognize North Dakota’s firearms licenses based on a new law that states that reciprocity is at the discretion of the other state. In other words, North Dakota will recognize Georgia if Georgia will recognize North Dakota. You may read GCO’s letter to the Attorney General’s office here.

Please click here to listen to a new radio ad that has been playing in north Georgia.
Jeffery Anderson, GCO Member and probably the next Life Member, who lives in Jasper, recorded the GCO public service commercial that will be played on radio station FM104.3 in Dahlonega.
This is at no cost to GCO, as it is a public service announcement. Bo Wilson is the station owner, and he helped Jeff record the ad that will be running on his morning show.
We are planning on taking this ad to all the radio stations around the state and using the Public Service announcement approach.

In GCO’s federal lawsuit against MARTA, the parties have stipulated that MARTA is the defendant liable for the Privacy Act violation and that GCO member Christopher Raissi’s damages are $1,000. The federal court entered a final judgment today against MARTA and in favor of Raissi for $1,000. The court also ordered MARTA to expunge Raissi’s social security number from its records. Documents in the case may be viewed here.

A federal district judge in Atlanta has ruled that MARTA had probable cause to stop GCO member Christopher Raissi when Raissi was seen carrying a firearm at a MARTA train station. The court ruled that Raissi presented all the elements of both carrying a concealed weapon and boarding a train with a firearm. The court also ruled that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the state open records act claims, but ruled that some defendants (he could not tell which) were liable for Privacy Act violations. The case will go to trial on the Privacy Act claims to determine who is liable and what the damages and other remedies will be. The documents in the case may be viewed here.

GCO is proud to announce the appointment of Jerry Henry as GCO’s Executive Director. Jerry will be responsible for overall coordination and execution of GCO’s activities, as well as acting as a liaison between each of GCO’s various coordinators, sponsors, and members. GCO now has a telephone number available Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9 to 5. You may contact Jerry using the following three methods:

By telephone: M, W, F. 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. (404) 550-3753

By email: jhenry@georgiacarry.org

By regular mail:

Jerry Henry
Executive Director
7480 Rivertown Road
Fairburn, GA 30213

We are happy to have Jerry on board, and we are confident that he will do an excellent job.

Defendants in GCO’s federal lawsuit against MARTA and some of its officers have filed their final brief on the merits of the case. The matter is now before federal judge Thomas Thrash, who will rule if either party should win on the merits of the case without a trial. A decision is expected within a few weeks. The documents in the case may be viewed here.

GCO has filed its final briefs on the merits in its federal lawsuit against MARTA over whether it is constitutional for police to stop any person seen carrying a firearm.  MARTA’s final brief is due October 23, 2009.  After that, the judge in the case is expected to rule on several outstanding motions, including determining if the police may demand the social security number of anyone they stop, if a government agency (such as MARTA) may ignore an open records request with impunity, and if police may detain, under force of law, anyone carrying a firearm.  While no timeline is imposed on federal judges for ruling on motions, a decision is expected within a few weeks.  The briefs in this case can be viewed here.