Videographer: Alyssa Pointer
ATLANTA — On April 12, Georgia became the 22nd state allowing unlicensed gun-owners to carry a concealed weapon, one in a spate of so-called constitutional carry laws that have supporters and detractors, with the International Association of Police Chiefs among opponents.
Nevertheless, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, touted his state’s new provision as a means of “building a stronger, safer Georgia … In the face of rising crime across the country, law-abiding citizens should have their constitutional rights protected, not undermined.”
LaTayla Billingslea, a high school senior in Atlanta and national advisory board member of Students Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, is skeptical of those kinds of claims.
“As a youth,” Billingslea said, “it makes me feel, not only unsafe for myself, but also for my friends and peers.”
Continued Billingslea, a member of Jared’s Heart of Success, a nonprofit named for a 24-year-old killed by a stray bullet: “The laws that were previously passed put in place certain protections so that the public peace is kept within Georgia. With certain sections of [constitutional carry] those provisions are getting taken away.”
She recognizes, she added, that “the idea of bearing arms is very ingrained in our culture and within the Constitution of the United States. It is a right of American citizens, so knowing how to use [guns] properly is important.”
There is no mandatory training in weapons use under the permitless carry laws. And that, argues Oliver Price, co-owner South Atlanta Professional Firearms Training, is a big problem.
“ As a youth, it makes me feel, not only unsafe for myself, but also for my friends and peers.” Billingslea
“I don’t think you’re doing the state justice if you go to permitless,” said Price, noting a surge in the tally of people of color, including Asians, and of Jews, who’ve enrolled his training courses as their communities have come under particular attack.
“So many people pass through my class and they do not know what they are actually getting themselves into,” Price said. “ … They’re wanting to be protected. They’re wanting to have a right to bear arms and know the laws.”
Joshua Crowder, vice chairman of the Libertarian Party of Atlanta, said he understands those motivations. He joined the military straight of high school, left it in 2017 and bought his first handgun about a week after a break-in at his and his wife’s Atlanta apartment. Nine months later, he paid for a permit, said Crowder, at a statehouse rally supporting what has become Georgia’s new law.
He made that purchase, he added, “with the intention of never having to use it – but having it just in case I need it.”