Their relationship started on the Internet — like-minded people bemoaning what they considered restrictive Georgia gun laws.

Attorney Ed Stone, a former police officer in Union City and Peachtree City, and five others commiserated in the chat room of a now-defunct Web site. They'd exchanged numerous e-mails about what they called illegal limits on gun ownership and "everybody trying to make up their own law," Stone said.

Rich Addicks/Staff (ENLARGE)

Atlanta attorney and former police officer Ed Stone, president of GeorgiaCarry.org, which fights for gun owner's rights, says he carries his pistol with him every day.

So in the back room of a Shoney's restaurant in Douglasville two years ago they organized. GeorgiaCarry.org was born.

Since, the group has quietly sued or pushed local governments to abandon ordinances restricting firearms in public parks and requiring Social Security numbers. The group successfully fought the state's probate judges over delays in issuing permits and now is suing Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. The airport challenge claims a change in state law forbids prohibiting firearms on mass transit and that includes Atlanta's terminal.

Two years of strategy

Funded through a $15-a-year membership fee by men and women in Georgia and other states, GeorgiaCarry.org was a tiny group when it filed its first lawsuit against a Coweta County probate judge over a gun-permit issue.

The group operated virtually unnoticed until it sued the airport when Atlanta officials threatened to arrest anyone with a gun, even those with permits, in nonsecured areas at the world's busiest airport.

One of the results was a surge in membership; in a week GeorgiaCarry.org's roll grew from 1,600 to 1,900 and is expected soon to pass the 2,000 mark.

"We see ourselves as Georgia's newest civil rights group," said Stone, GeorgiaCarry.org's president since the beginning. "Two years ago, we didn't exist. Yet today, we're making a huge difference."

After a new law became effective July 1 to allow guns in more places, a legislator said he would celebrate the change by taking a gun to the airport. Airport management responded with a threat to have him arrested for bringing a gun to a "public gathering," which Georgia law prohibits. GeorgiaCarry.org disagreed with that interpretation and sued.

The lawsuit won the support of some House and Senate members. And Gov. Sonny Perdue threw his political weight behind GeorgiaCarry.org's argument when he told reporters earlier this week that he thought people — especially his wife — should be able to take guns into the airport as long as they have permits. GeorgiaCarry.org is scheduled to be in federal court Aug. 11 to argue for a temporary injunction blocking the airport from arresting permitted gun owners carrying firearms in a nonsecured area.

An attorney who has opposed GeorgiaCarry.org on the legal front says the group is formidable. "It's an interesting niche that they've found and they've been able to take advantage of it," said Bill Berryman, the attorney for Athens-Clarke County in a suit challenging a local ordinance barring guns in parks.

Their strategy seems to be to challenge laws and ordinances. It's a straightforward approach, Berryman said. No juries, just a judge ruling on the law.

Advocates for gun restrictions are anxious about the gains made by the group.

Valarie Hartman-Levy of the Georgia Million Mom March said GeorgiaCarry.org's stand "seems pretty unbelievable."

She said the prolific lawsuits will cost taxpayers, and the public will "pay the price" of GeorgiaCarry.org's wins "with our safety."

Public gatherings next

Since August 2006, GeorgiaCarry.org has brought 13 state and federal lawsuits. It has won in court or come away with a settlement in all but two, which are pending. The cases were filed June 27 and July 1 — the first against Fulton County Probate Court for refusing to issue a license to a man who was not a Georgia resident and the other against Atlanta and the airport.

"They certainly have been litigious," said Alice Johnson with Georgians for Gun Safety. "I think that a lot of these pro-gun ... groups are going to find themselves less formidable as a result of the [U.S.] Supreme Court decision [throwing out Washington's gun ban]. That is not hype. That is not sour grapes."

GeorgiaCarry.org says it is not affiliated with any national organization. The group's Web site is described as "an information clearinghouse for Georgia firearms license issues and news."

"We're pretty proud of what we've done," said GeorgiaCarry.org board member and attorney John Monroe.

Monroe and Stone do not bill for their legal work but ask for attorneys' fees in the suits they bring. Membership fees cover court filing costs.

The group contends Georgia is one of the most restrictive states in the country. That's an argument also made by one of the country's largest gun rights groups, the National Rifle Association, and its state affiliate, the Georgia Sports Shooting Association.

GeorgiaCarry.org's leaders say characterizations that Georgia is gun-friendly are an "urban myth."

Yet the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, one of the nation's most visible advocates for stricter gun laws, is on the other side of the debate. It consistently gives Georgia's law a failing grade for imposing only the minimum required under federal statue.

As GeorgiaCarry.org prepares for the August case against Hartsfield-Jackson International, which Stone calls "one more example of how the law can be twisted and abused," the group already knows what it will tackle next: Georgia's "public gatherings law."

The law prohibits carrying any explosive, knife or firearm — licensed or not — to a public gathering, such as church or a political rally.

"It's our No. 1 priority," Stone said.