Fayette County’s ordinance proposal is again in the news.  ” . . . the real reason for the abrupt pulling of the item may have been the pressure exerted by georgiacarry.org, a gun-rights advocacy group that is currently in litigation with Coweta County over a similar ordinance.”

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 Two counties have voluntarily repealed the ordinance and the other counties are having discussions with the gun rights group.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.