Federal Judge Will Not Suspend Georgia Handgun Carry License Law During COVID-19 Threat

A federal judge in Atlanta has rejected a Georgia gun group’s move to suspend a state law requiring a license to carry a handgun in public. 

U.S. District Judge Steve Jones ruled Monday that neither Georgia Carry, a group devoted to advocating for Second Amendment rights, nor member Sara Carter could show they suffered any injury that would give them standing to sue.

Dawsonville attorney John Monroe, founder and general counsel of Georgia Carry, sought a temporary restraining order on April 10 to suspend the law after the state’s Council of Probate Judges notified probate courts that issuing handgun carry licenses is not an essential judicial function during the current statewide judicial emergency issued to stem the spread of COVID-19. The state is operating under a separate health emergency.

“We are disappointed in the order and considering our next steps,” Monroe said Tuesday. A spokeswoman for State Attorney General Chris Carr declined to comment on the judge’s ruling.

The state Attorney General’s Office, which represents Gov. Brian Kemp, contended at a hearing last week that Carter’s alleged fear of arrest or prosecution if she carried a handgun in public without a license was speculative, and that she faced “no credible threat of prosecution.”

Jones agreed. The judge noted in his order Monday that state law does not require a license to have a firearm in one’s home, car, place of business or when hunting or fishing. Unlicensed individuals also may carry long-barrel guns openly in public.

Carter claimed she could face a misdemeanor charge for carrying a handgun in public without a license, but the judge said law enforcement is barred from detaining anyone carrying a handgun in public for the sole purpose of determining whether they have a carry license.

Jones said the state law also provides “a justification defense” for people charged with violating the law if they reasonably believe breaking the law is necessary for their personal defense.

Renewal deadlines for gun licenses set to expire during the state emergency also have been extended until the emergency expires. As a result, Jones said Carter’s fear of arrest or prosecution “is not reasonable.”

In addition, the judge said that suspending the state law would mean people who can’t pass a license application investigation would be able to carry handguns in public.

Jones also said the suit is barred by the U.S. Constitution’s Eleventh Amendment, which prohibits federal courts from hearing lawsuits against a state unless that state has waived its immunity or Congress has overridden it.

Jones said ordering a governor to use his executive emergency powers to suspend enforcement of a state statute would be “drastic,” and that Monroe cited no cases where a federal court has done so.

Jones added that Carter’s inability to obtain a handgun carry license during the “limited pendency” of the current state of emergency does not “gut” her general right to keep and bear arms in self-defense.