Senate Bill 34, filed by Senators Emanuel Jones, Gloria Butler, Sally Harrell, Nan Orrock, Valencia Seay, and Freddie Powell Sims seeks to change provisions relating to who is ineligible for Georgia weapons carry licenses and who can own weapons.
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- Senator Freddie Powell Sims (Photo: Georgia State Senate)
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- Senator Nan Orrock (Photo: Georgia State Senate)
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- Senator Gloria Butler (Photo: Georgia State Senate)
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- Senator Sally Harrell (Photo: Georgia State Senate)
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- Valencia Seay, Photo: Georgia State Senate
Current law prohibits someone who has hospitalized as an inpatient in any mental hospital or alcohol or drug treatment center in the last five years from being eligible for a carry license, but SB 34 seeks to expand the ineligible net to include those who are classified as disabled.
The language cites the definition of ‘disability’ and adds it to the Georgia Weapons Carry License code section, defining it the same way it’s already outlined in OCGA 37-1- 1 which says a disability means:
- (A) Mental or emotional illness;
- (B) Developmental disability; or
- (C) Addictive disease.
The current definition does not define what mental or emotional illness entails nor does it outline addictive disease, but developmental disabilities are widely consistent in definition by the medical field.
Developmental disabilities can include limitations in function resulting from disorders of the developing nervous system and often impact cognition, motor performance, vision, hearing and speech, and behavior. Examples of developmental disabilities cerebral palsy, dyslexia, ADHD, Post-Polio Paralysis, muscular dystrophy, autism, hearing-related disabilities, and more.
Any person falling into these three categories (A, B and C) would be ineligible for a weapons carry license for a more expansive 10 years under the proposal unless a board certified psychiatrist or psychologist vouched for their competency before a probate judge.
SB 34 also proposes:
- Striking language in current law which allows probate judges to require applicants to sign waivers to obtain inpatient treatment center documentation or for the facility to make recommendations to the probate judge
- Replaces the above language with a provision that requires applicants to sign an “affidavit attesting to whether or not he or she has been diagnosed with a disability within the past ten years,”
- Prohibits any person diagnosed with a disability of any type from obtaining a carry license without documentation from a psychiatrist stating that the applicant is “mentally competent to be issued a weapons carry license or renewal license.”
- Prohibits the transfer or sale of a firearm by a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, or licensed dealer to someone diagnosed with a disability in the last 10 years
- Requires affidavits that no disability has been diagnosed for those seeking to to transfer, sell or exchange firearms and requires an affidavit from a psychiatrist if a person has been diagnosed with a disability in the last 10 years.
- The penalty for violation by either party would be 1-5 years in prison and up to $1,000 in fines
- Requires the firearms dealer to keep the health information of the buyer confidential
You can read the bill below. (If you’re reading on a mobile device or having difficulty loading the PDF, click here)
Contact the sponsors of the bill by email at:
emanuel.jones@senate.ga.gov
gloria.butler@senate.ga.gov
sally.harrell@senate.ga.gov
nan.orrock@senate.ga.gov
freddie.sims@senate.ga.gov
valencia.seay@senate.ga.gov
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Nelda Smith
January 29, 2019 at 3:46 pm
The GA. LEGISLATURE SHOULD BE GETTING BAD LAWS OFF BOOKS (LIKE NO-KNOCK WARRANT & POLICE STATE LAWS) and STOP MAKING NEW BILLS / LAWS DAILY! RIDICULOUS! OVERREACH WILL NEVER STOP!
Everett James
January 29, 2019 at 5:55 pm
To much double talk. This bill would accomplish nothing, save no lives, save no money, and only wastes time and money! This bill is part of a nation wide campaign to flood state legislatures with gun control bills as stated by the Democratic National Committee. This bill should be killed before it goes any further as it serves no useful pupose whatsoever!
Marie Edwards
January 29, 2019 at 8:31 pm
I agree with Mr. Everett James. Useless and wasteful. ADHD? HEARING? SIGHT? THE LAST TWO WOULD INCLUDE MOST ANYONE OVER 6O!
Jeannie
January 30, 2019 at 8:00 am
Exactly, the people who are doing the killing with guns usually don’t have the right to carry a gun to begin with, this is just crazy and a waste of money!
Rita Dubberly
January 29, 2019 at 6:15 pm
There is nothing wrong with the Police have laws,they need them,,if your not breaking then there shouldn’t be a problem !!!!! ENOUGH SAID !!!!!
Mark
January 31, 2019 at 5:40 am
You’re a very ignorant voter. The whole point behind self defense, the core of the 2nd Amendment, is that everyone has the right to defend themselves.
Whether or not your hearing is average, or whether one walks with a cane, should certainly not remove their right to defend themselves from attack.
Joe Gardner
January 29, 2019 at 10:21 pm
This bill is discriminatory at it’s very root and therefore illegal at best. I am a retired law enforcement officer with over 35 years off law Enforcement in Georgia. Yes there are those who are mentally disabled that should not possess firearms however just because someone is disabled by development issues doesn’t mean they are unable to possess a gun. This bill holds them to a higher standard then others by saying they must go see a doctor who can only give an opinion. I am now retired and have a disability called PMR. These same lawmakers would be jumping up and down if these same people they are tragically singling out were being discriminated against for other reasons. I hope this bill dies and these authors and supporters see the mistake that has been made. Yes some people don’t needs to have guns but the list here is to vague. Just because you have a disability doesn’t mean you are crazy has it suggest.
Lee
January 29, 2019 at 10:36 pm
Being a combat veteran gives me a certain Insight’s to how cruel people can be towards one another. That being said; It’s all about control; people that have it want more of it and people without it despise the ones that have it. I personally think the America of our forefathers was at best a desperate idea, freedom at any cost. The forefathers knew that this this idea, this dream would cost them everything. To them it was worth dying for. Most legislators have never experienced life outside walls of freedom, they don’t understand what regime oppression is, what it looks like, feels like or even taste like or lack thereof. Living a life of privilege they cannot understand why you as an every-day American despise your rights being slowly and methodically taken from you. They think you will continue just to continue. If you don’t know your history and how you came to enjoy this dream, you are but sheep before the slaughter. Wake up, write your congressional reps. Put there job on notice… Don’t be lazy; if you not willing to speak up for your constitutional rights. Your not an American, your sheep
Davy Crockett
January 30, 2019 at 5:17 am
Why would you ban people with adhd or cerebral palsy? ADHD is mostly a learning disability and most people who have it function completely fine in society . People who shouldn’t own guns should have more severe forms of mental illness like scitzophrenia, psychosis, psycho and sociopaths and bipolar people.
Nelda Smith
January 30, 2019 at 7:08 am
WHY ARE WE CLOGGING OUR LEGISLATURE WITH NEW BILLS WHEN OLD BILLS SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM GA. LAW – LIKE THE NO-KNOCK WARRANT AND GEORGIA POLICE STATE LAWS…INNOCENT LAW ABIDING GEORGIA CITIZENS ARE BEING MURDERED IN THE PRIVACY OF THEIR OWN HOMES BECAUSE OF THESE UN-CONSTITUTIONAL LAWS!
Daniel S
January 30, 2019 at 3:26 pm
Let me count the ways this would violate people’s rights.
ADA Americans with Disabilities Act which those Illnesses cover
14TH Amendment Section 1
No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Michaela
January 30, 2019 at 3:36 pm
Soooo, hey…. peeps with ADHD…
IF PASSED, YOU SHOULD QUALIFY FOR AND GET BENEFITS FOR HAVING A MEDICAL DISABILITY!!
CALL YOUR STATE REP AND ASK HOW TO FILE!! 😁
Daniel carter
January 30, 2019 at 6:16 pm
Discrimination all the way we are the ones who need protection the most often singled out in society for being weak sick or for the thought we might have medications we are often targets by the criminal elements now I agree not everyone should have weapons of any kind however to throw people with disabilities under the bus goes to show how much the government is willing to go to make us nothing more than unarmed pesants
ted
January 31, 2019 at 1:06 am
yesssssss!
Donna Parker
January 31, 2019 at 9:39 am
I agree if they consider people with ADHD or Add. Those folks should be deemed as disabled. Also some of the old laws needs to be changed in Georgia.
Phillip Evans
November 1, 2022 at 5:41 pm
Leave it to Democrats, the discrimination experts, to discriminate against those with disabilities and infringe on their self-defense rights. Dyslexia, hearing impairment – really?