After two years of bitter fighting and brutal behind-the-scene politicking, gun advocates say they are confident that 2008 is the year they broadly expand the state's right-to-carry-weapons laws.

Provisions that would allow guns in restaurants, state parks, some employee parking lots and on public transportation — including MARTA trains — will be in the mix Friday, the last day of the legislative session, as the clock winds down to midnight, lawmakers say.

Rep. Tim Bearden (R-Villa Rica), a former police officer and sponsor of one of the gun bills, said he "didn't see any roadblocks" to the House and Senate working out a compromise.

"These could be the most expansive gun laws in the state's history," Bearden said.

The renewed prospects for gun legislation came as a shock to opponents who thought the measure was off the table for the year.

Ron Wolf, head of the Georgia Restaurant Association, said he had been assured by lawmakers that the issue of guns in restaurants was dead. Bringing it back up a day before the session ends was a sneaky move, he said.

"If you want to avoid opposition, you do it in a dark room," he said. "They did it because they knew they could slip it through."

Earlier this session, the Republican-backed Senate gutted Bearden's bill, HB 89, which would have allowed employees with gun permits to carry weapons into company parking lots. Senators found themselves in a precarious position — locked between the powerful National Rifle Association who backed it and business leaders who vehemently opposed the legislation.

When it went back to the House, lawmakers added several amendments to the bill, expanding it to allow some Georgians to carry guns into churches, sporting events, state parks and public gatherings. The Senate quickly shipped that version of the bill off to a committee of negotiators, where some lawmakers said they believed it would stay.

But two months later, insiders say a deal probably will be brokered Friday under the Gold Dome.

Bearden said Thursday that he has backed off his effort to allow guns in churches and at public gatherings. Meanwhile, the Senate on Wednesday hurriedly tacked on amendments to another gun bill, HB 257, to allow Georgians with gun permits to bring weapons onto public transportation and into restaurants — as long as they don't drink.

Wolf, of the restaurant group, said the "concept of mixing firearms with alcohol is unnerving."

"I've talked to a lot of moms, people with kids, who don't want to go into Applebee's and have someone sitting next to them with a gun," he said.

The NRA has lobbied relentlessly for expanded gun rights in Georgia, sending out tens of thousands of postcards to gun enthusiasts this session urging them to call their state senators and the lieutenant governor. A spokesman for the NRA said the organization would issue a statement after lawmakers vote.

Joe Fleming, lobbyist for the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, said his organization is focusing on the guns-in-parking-lot provisions in HB 89, to make sure the language does not stray from the compromise reached in February.

MARTA officials say they are worried about the amendment to HB 257.

"While we understand the desire for licensed firearm owners to protect themselves or others in a criminal situation, we believe that a citizen with good intentions could potentially, in the stress of the moment, injure innocent passengers or the operator," MARTA spokeswoman Joselyn Baker said.

"MARTA's No. 1 priority is protecting the safety of our customers and employees, and we strongly believe that the potential for compromised safety is too great to take a chance on this bill."

The amendments stand a good chance of passing.

When asked whether he supported the idea of allowing guns in restaurants and on public transportation, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle said he did not see a problem.

"We are talking about individuals who have gone through a background check and are certified to carry a weapon. It's not the wild, wild West."

Bearden said 43 other states allow guns on public transportation. Thirty-seven states allow permit holders to carry weapons into restaurants.

"It's not like we're on the cutting edge here," he said.

Still, some Georgians question the legislation.

When he heard about the proposal to have concealed weapons on MARTA, 17-year-old Cortez Lewis looked skeptical.

A senior at Alonzo Crim High School, he stood waiting Thursday for a westbound train to take him from the transit's Martin Luther King Jr. stop to Five Points.

"You shouldn't be carrying guns on MARTA," he said.

Tameka Hill of Decatur thinks the same thing. A specialist in the Georgia National Guard, Hill said she is comfortable around weapons of all sorts — rifles or handguns, it doesn't matter; she's shot them.

"But I'm not comfortable with weapons being in the wrong hands," said Hill, 31. "I think that [legislation] is ridiculous."

— Staff writer Mark Davis contributed to this article.