Guest Editorial: NRA Ratings Sham in Georgia

By Matt Knighten

I have sent you emails a couple of times in the past about NRA ratings in Georgia that are similarly confusing as that of Bill Brown's own rating.

Well I don't think I have updated you on the latest ordeal with the NRA and Georgia legislation.

Georgiacarry.org (link already on your website) had been pushing a bill called HB 89 that would allow a person not ineligible for a carry license to be able to carry a firearm anywhere in a car without a license (our thinking being if you left your license elsewhere or left your firearm in the car with a unlicensed family member driving, that it would not be illegal). Our current law makes it illegal unless an unlicensed person puts it in a glovebox, console, or open to view (licensed people can carry anywhere in the car).

HB 89 had already passed the House Committee, Full House and Senate Committee (GCO showed up to and spoke at all public meetings, no other pro-gun showed up for any), all that was waiting was a vote by the Senate which we expected it to pass by a good margin.

The NRA had its own bills (2 identical, one for the house HB 143, the other in the senate SB 43). Basically they both were to prohibit certain employers from prohibiting employees from lawfully carrying and possessing firearms in locked motor vehicles; to provide for immunity for employers who allow employees to possess firearms in locked vehicles on the premises of such employer.

They both were strongly opposed by Georgia Chamber of Commerce and other similar powerful lobby groups (GCO was not opposed or in support of it as our membership had mixed feelings). As the crossover day approached, the NRA pushed hard for passage. It failed. Only our bill HB 89 was passed before crossover day and could continue. So the only way for the NRA to get their bill back in the running was to tack it on to HB 89.

So without asking the author of the bill or GCO (its only defender in the house and senate), the NRA got HB 89 pulled from the calendar and amended it. HB 89 went from near certain passage to near certain failure.

So we started asking Senators to make sure the amendment was not officially added (full vote needed) and leave HB 89 as it originally was.

The NRA got wind of what we were doing and they released a threat (published in the Atlanta Journal Constitution "Political Insider" column) that said if anyone voted against adding the amendment or the bill itself, would be given an F. We contacted NRA's rep and said that they were killing HB 89 with their threats. The threat remained, so support for HB 89 dried up.

It almost came to a vote, then the Virginia Tech shootings happened and so they had an excuse to bury the bill with the amendment and not incur the wrath of the NRA.

So thanks to the NRA help and threats, instead of getting one pro-gun bill passed in Georgia, we get none.

The absurdity is, without the unfortunate deaths at VT giving legislators an excuse, the NRA would probably have given the original author of HB 89 as well as many others a F.

Anyway, just thought you would like to know.

Matt Knighten
Owner GeorgiaPacking.org
Secretary and member of the Board of GeorgiaCarry.org

PS - We have now learned that an 800 lb gorilla is great if it does what you want, however there are times when all it ends up doing is smashing your own hard work to bits.