Bill targeting Savannah’s ban on guns in unlocked vehicles goes to the governor

The Georgia Senate on Tuesday passed its first bill of the session, which would ban local governments from requiring gun owners to lock their firearms in vehicles. The bill, Senate Bill 204, passed by a 32-21 vote after a short debate over the balance between local public safety initiatives and statewide Second Amendment protections. The […]

SB 204, sponsored by Trenton Republican Sen. Colton Moore, prohibits local governments from regulating firearm storage, effectively overturning ordinances like Savannah’s requirement to lock guns in vehicles. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder

The Georgia Senate on Tuesday passed its first bill of the session, which would ban local governments from requiring gun owners to lock their firearms in vehicles.

The bill, Senate Bill 204, passed by a 32-21 vote after a short debate over the balance between local public safety initiatives and statewide Second Amendment protections. The measure, which was carried over from last year, now heads to the governor. 

“You see, we are the supreme lawmaking authority in this state, not some liberal municipality,” said Trenton Republican Sen. Colton Moore, who sponsored the bill and who argued on the Senate floor that the bill would restore “freedom back into the hands of the citizenry.”

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The bill specifically targets ordinances like one enacted in Savannah, which requires firearms to be secured in locked vehicles to prevent theft and establishes a maximum penalty of $1,000 in fines and 30 days in jail for people who leave them inside unlocked vehicles. Under SB 204, no county or municipality may regulate the storage of firearms through zoning, ordinance or resolution.

The bill would allow gun owners affected by such a local ordinance to sue the local authority. Those who prevail can recover at least $25,000 plus attorney’s fees.

Moore claimed Tuesday that the ordinance has turned car theft victims into criminals.

“You can travel the state freely, knowing that you’re not going to be a victim of a crime and then be made a criminal, as we’ve seen in Savannah, Georgia,” Moore said during the floor debate. 

Tuesday was Moore’s last day in the Senate. He is stepping down to run in the special election to replace former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. 

In November, a Chatham County judge threw out a case against a man cited under the ordinance, which the judge ruled violates Georgia law and the U.S. Constitution, the Associated Press reported at the time.  

A separate challenge is still pending and “should be ready for trial in a couple months,” according to John Monroe, a lawyer representing the suing parties.

Attorney General Chris Carr filed an amicus brief in the lawsuit, saying that the ordinance violates the Georgia Assembly’s authority over county or city ordinances.

“Courts give that mandate effect through the doctrine of state pre-emption: local ordinances regulating matters the General Assembly has claimed are ultra vires and void,” Carr, who is a candidate for governor, wrote in the brief.

Sen. Derek Mallow, a Democrat from Savannah, defended his city’s ordinance, saying that it regulated the car, not the gun itself, and that the Savannah ordinance has been an effective tool in reducing gun violence.

“This has reduced gun thefts by over 30% in one year, in the city of Savannah alone. The city overwhelmingly supports the Second Amendment, but they also believe that public safety is at risk when guns are stolen from unlocked cars,” Mallow said, adding that leaving loaded firearms in unlocked vehicles allows them to fall into the wrong hands.

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