Pro & Con: Should Congress trump Georgia’s new gun law?

YES: In post-9/11 America, airports are meant to be gun-free zones.

By Hank Johnson

It’s just common sense and now the governor agrees.

Only law enforcement and security personnel should be permitted to carry guns inside airports. The Airport Security Act, which I recently introduced in Congress, is a common-sense effort that would plug a gaping hole in the federal responsibility to secure the safety of the flying public.

As a high-ranking DeKalb County law enforcement official recently told me, our police are better able to enforce the law when citizens are not carrying concealed weapons in places like churches, shopping malls, courthouses, schools or airports. It is highly likely that a bystander would be killed or injured by “friendly fire” if individuals took it upon themselves to pull out a loaded weapon and fire “at will” in a crowded airport lobby.

Let’s trust law enforcement officials, who say firearms don’t belong at airports.

As the Airports Council International said in a recent letter to Hartsfield-Jackson, “There is no justification for permitting firearms at any airport.”

After 9/11, the federal government assumed responsibility for providing security in our airports. It was obvious that a coordinated effort was necessary. Having security in the hands of a myriad of air carriers was a recipe for disaster.

The Transportation Security Agency was created to ensure that travelers to, from and within our country’s airports can be confident in their safety when they fly. Currently, the federal responsibility ends at TSA’s security gates.

This means that the check-in areas, lobbies and parking areas are places where, if a city or state chooses, concealed weapons could be carried by any and everyone. My legislation would ensure that guns are not permitted on airport property.

However, those same local governments can repeal their laws at any time, potentially opening holes in our nation’s airport security. The lack of a single, coherent, national standard — that guns are not welcome in airports — is troubling.

Traveling families who walk through an airport should not have to worry whether the traveler next to them is carrying a loaded handgun. Loaded guns belong on firing ranges, in designated hunting areas and in gun safes. It is amazing that lawmakers anywhere are advocating for concealed, loaded firearms in our airports.

While policies vary from state to state and from airport to airport, there is currently no comprehensive policy for guns in non-TSA areas of airports nationwide. This bill would create that national standard at every airport in this country.

To those who argue that this bill is an affront to the Second Amendment, I would remind them that this bill preserves current law at most airports.

This bill still allows law-abiding Americans to travel with their gun — it just does not allow them to bring their gun into the airport in an operable and concealed fashion. The Supreme Court upheld the Second Amendment, but it does not mean that right is absolute. We must balance our individual rights with our collective security.

Let me be clear. This bill is not about politics or politicians. I respect differing opinions. This is about public safety, and the opinions that matter most to me are those of law enforcement and security officials who tell me that guns have no place in the airport. The governor’s decision Tuesday to veto a bill that would have allowed concealed weapons inside airport areas not secured by the TSA was a helpful and informative step, and I look forward to working with local officials and others to perfect my legislation moving forward.

This bill is a common-sense measure to protect millions of travelers while keeping airports like Hartsfield-Jackson safer environments.

U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) represents Georgia’s 4th Congressional District.

NO: Law-abiding gun owners shouldn’t be put in a ‘gotcha’ at airports.

By Mitch Seabaugh

Georgia’s Common Sense Lawful Carry Act, signed by the governor Tuesday, protects lawfully carrying citizens from unknowingly becoming criminals by clarifying where they can and cannot carry their weapons.

Recent federal gun restriction proposals by Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) and Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), barring weapons from airport property, would only trap law-abiding citizens into becoming criminals. Neither gentleman has thought through the implications of their proposals nor do they have the power to encroach on Georgia’s right to work for its citizens. We have a representative government; a government that is elected by the people to work for the people. Many federal officials in Washington have forgotten this, and the recent federal proposals against the Lawful Carry Act are the perfect example.

In this post-9/11 era, the Transportation Security Administration is in charge of security of travel on airplanes. TSA set up the security checkpoints, taking responsibility for security from that point on and leaving the other areas of the airport (so-called nonsterile areas) up to each state to decide their own restrictions. TSA Administrator Kip Hawley was noted as saying that the TSA does not regulate weapons in the nonsterile areas, that weapons regulation in those areas is up to the states, that many states allow weapons in those areas and that that is not a concern of the TSA. Six states ban gun carry in large public airports. Three more states ban concealed carry but not open carry. And 40 states do not make it a crime for lawful carry in the nonsterile areas of the airport. There have been no reported incidents of lawfully carrying citizens committing crimes in airports.

The attacks on the U.S. were traitorous, but let’s remember that Georgia’s proposed legislation is talking about lawfully carrying gun owners. I can’t remember the last time a criminal, terrorist or somebody willing to commit a crime checked the law books before they did it. Our goal in the Georgia Legislature is to remove the “gotcha” situation in our carrying laws so that our lawfully carrying citizens don’t unknowingly commit a crime.

How do you get from your car to the check-in counter at the airport without breaking the law? Many lawfully carrying citizens have their weapon in their vehicles every day. If they get a last-minute call to pick somebody up from the airport, they may not have time to run home and leave their firearm there. They will then unknowingly break the law by simply picking up a loved one from the airport. What about travelers who return late at night and walk across the dark parking lots? They have the right to protect themselves and don’t need to unknowingly break the law.

How much more federal encroachment do we need? First they want to dictate health care and now citizens’ rights to carry a firearm. Next thing we’ll hear is that the federal government doesn’t want lawfully carrying citizens to have guns in their cars on federal highways.

Johnson and Lautenberg have clearly not thought through their proposals. If the federal government expands the federally secured area to the entire airport, security check points will have to move to the outer doors costing states, businesses and the federal government tons of money. Washington cannot continue to push federal regulations on the states and taxpayers that cost more money.

Johnson’s and Lautenberg’s proposals take aim at the wrong people. Their suggestions will only make law-abiding citizens criminals. Georgia’s Common Sense Lawful Carry Act is exactly the common-sense legislation needed to protect individual freedoms without compromising public safety.

State Sen. Mitch Seabaugh
(R-Sharpsburg) represents the 28th Senate District.