Kemp signs constitutional carry into law

Loosened gun restrictions take center stage in race for governor

Gov. Brian Kemp on Tuesday signed a bill that would allow Georgians to carry concealed handguns in public without having a license or a background check, fulfilling a campaign promise as he gears up to face Republican voters in the May primary election.

The bill, which supporters commonly refer to as “Constitutional Carry,” was one of Kemp’s top priorities in the 2022 legislative session. It passed both the House and the Senate along party lines.

“SB 319 makes sure that law abiding Georgians, law abiding Georgians, including our daughters, and your family too, can protect themselves without having to have permission from your state government,” Kemp said Tuesday at a Douglasville gun store. “The Constitution of the United States gives us that right, not the government.”

The governor had endorsed the measure during the 2018 campaign, when he debuted a TV ad that appeared to depict him pointing a gun at a teenaged boy who wanted to date one of his daughters. But until now, he has not made a serious push for it in the three years since he was elected.

Former Sen. David Perdue, Kemp’s top challenger in the Republican primary, praised the bill’s signing but said that the governor only championed the legislation this year to bolster his re-election campaign. “It’s too bad it took me getting in the race for them to get any energy to get that done,” Perdue told reporters.

When asked why it took so long to pass the bill, Kemp suggested that it did not have enough support from lawmakers when he became governor. He responded to Perdue by saying that the former Senator never championed this effort on the federal level during his six years in Washington. “It would be great if they did that at the federal level,” he said. “Then we wouldn’t have to do it with all of the states.”

Stacey Abrams @staceyabrams

He knows 5,200+ permits were denied in a single year, for example, because of felony convictions or domestic abuse. He knows the danger. Kemp just doesn’t care. #criminalcarry

Georgia Democrats held an event to criticize the bill not too far from the gun store where it was being signed. They claimed that this bill will only lead to more violence and dismissed it as a campaign tactic. “Who is he serving with this bill,” one Democratic lawmaker asked.

Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams criticized the bill on Twitter and referred to it with the hashtag “#CriminalCarry.” She said that her archrival knows that bills like this lead to increases in gun violence. “Kemp just doesn’t care,” she tweeted.