Georgia Bill Would Prevent Law Enforcement From Enforcing Civilian Disarmament Measures
Jose Nino
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On January 23, 2024, State Representative Charlice Byrd introduced a bill — House Bill 1009 (HB1009), titled the Second Amendment Preservation Act. The bill would ban the use of state personnel or resources for the enforcement of any gun control coming from the federal level.
According to the Tenth Amendment Center, the bill would ban public officers and employees of the state and its political subdivisions from enforcing or participating in any way in the enforcement of any federal acts, executive orders, administrative orders, rules, regulations, laws, or ordinances dealing with firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition. The bill would also prevent public offices and state employees from providing “material support” for enforcement of the same gun control measures. In this case, material support is defined as “voluntarily giving or allowing others to make use of lodging; communications equipment or services, including social media accounts; facilities; weapons; personnel; transportation; clothing; or other physical assets.”
Moreover, HB1009 would implement this prohibition on state or local enforcement of federal gun control with no need to determine the constitutionality of this measure. As Mike Maharrey of The Tenth Amendment Center noted, the “provisions of the National Firearms Act of 1934, the Gun Control Act of 1968, President Trump’s bump-stock ban, two ATF regulations from executive orders issued by Joe Biden, proposed federal “red-flag laws,” and any future gun control schemes implemented by the federal government” would be subject to the prohibition.
Basically, the state of Georgia would only actively enforce Georgia laws with respect to guns.
Any political subdivision that has a law enforcement officer on staff who knowingly breaks the law would be “liable to the injured party in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress and subject to a civil penalty of $50,000 per occurrence.”
On top of that, the bill would impose the same civil penalty on any political subdivision or law enforcement body that knowingly employs a local, state, or federal agent who broke the law.
Georgia is a relatively pro-gun state as evidenced by its 13th place ranking according to Guns & Ammo magazine’s rankings for the best states for gun owners. So it still has some work to do on gun laws.
The aforementioned legislation would not only improve Georgia’s gun laws, it would slowly convert it into a bulwark against federal gun grabs.
At the end of the day, states and lower levels of government will be the best vehicles for opposing federal encroachments against our liberties. Nullification is the wave of the future of right-wing activism and the quicker conservatives implement this strategy, the more politically successfully they will be.
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