Police arrested nearly two dozen protesters Monday who refused to leave a state senator’s office over his handling of a gun control bill.
Twenty-three people faced criminal trespassing charges, and more may be pending. The protesters were taken to Fulton County Jail.
The arrests represent the second time this year protesters affiliated with a new group called Moral Monday Georgia have been cuffed at the Capitol since the first day of the legislative session Jan. 13.
Monday’s target, Senate Judiciary Non-Civil Committee Chairman Jesse Stone, R-Waynesboro, has declined to act on a Democratic effort to repeal the state’s “stand your ground” law. The group asked Stone to meet with them en masse. Stone said he would meet with two of them with no cameras present. The group did not agree to his conditions.
Afterward, the senator said the protesters had hurt their case to move Senate Bill 280 forward. “If this is the kind of circus we’re going to have to contend with, we might not be able to do it,” Stone said. “I’m very sympathetic to their concerns, but I can’t reach a good decision just based on the number of people crowding into my office.”
State Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, filed SB 280 last month, although it’s not likely to go anywhere under the Republican-led Legislature.
The law, passed in 2006, states a person has no duty to retreat and can use deadly force if they have reason to believe their lives or property is endangered. The law most recently came under scrutiny in November when a Georgia homeowner shot and killed a 72-year-old Alzheimer’s patient he thought was an intruder.
Moral Monday Georgia has modeled its political protests after weekly demonstrations that rocked North Carolina last year and led to hundreds of arrests each week. Georgia organizers count support from a number of different groups, and they advocate progressive policies at sharp odds with the state’s conservative Republican leadership.
Police arrested 10 Moral Monday protesters Jan. 27 over Gov. Nathan Deal’s refusal to expand Medicaid in Georgia. The group also has pledged to take on House Bill 875, a sweeping gun bill that would widely expand access to guns in Georgia.
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