Category Archives: Gun Control

February 2022 Newsletter Extra Edition

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Committees are the Best Place to Amend, Stop or Pass Legislation

Recently, someone asked why should anyone be interested in what happens in the Georgia General Assembly. Simply put, legislators determine how we are governed. They pass bills and resolutions that become laws that affect our lives, hopefully for the better, sometimes not so much or, perhaps, they diminish our liberties and increase the power of government.

When introduced, bills are given numbers, so they can be identified and tracked as they proceed through committees and, possibly, onto the House and Senate floors for passage or defeat. All legislators are assigned to committees (many to several committees) where bills are debated, amended, rewritten and passed as substitute bills or favorably reported in the original version. Committees are the best place to get legislation passed, stopped, or amended. Members are especially accessible when they have public hearings for speakers to present the pros and cons.

However, the House and Senate have a major committee stop-gap or gate-keeper, their Rules committee that works as a clearing house to decide which bills live or die. Rules Committees may amend a piece of legislation or hold it in committee (kill it), or pass it onto the House or Senate floor for passage or defeat. Committees are keys to the legislative process.

The master keys are the (a) Senate Rules Committee – one of 29 standing committees in the Senate – and (b) the House Rules Committee – one of 42 standing committees in the House. The list of Senate Rules Committee members remained the same from last session, while the House Rules Committee added three members, dropped one and the vice chairman switched positions with another member.

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February 2022 Newsletter

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Legislators, Please Don’t Pass Bills that reward Lawlessness

“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” – Psalm 11:3

King David asked, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines “can” as “to be able to do, make or accomplish.” So, what can be done by the “righteous,” defined by the Dictionary as “acting in accord with divine or moral law.” Although society is neglecting divine law, unabashedly destroying moral law, and defying the Constitution, those standards must be re-established and enforced, “in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,” as stated in the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution.

Q. What can be done to recover constitutional authority and re-instate the observance of law?
A. Legislators can stop passing bills, such as H.B. 999, that reward unlawful entry into the U.S.
H.B. 999 Georgia Educational Freedom Act by Representative Wes Cantrell establishes state-funded promise scholarships of $6,000 per school year for each participating student to fund private nonpublic schools, sectarian or nonsectarian, higher education, curricula, etc.

  • To participate, H.B. 999 does not require parents or students to be in the U.S. legally.
  • To qualify for a $6,000 annual scholarship, the parents must, currently, reside in Georgia.
  • A student must be enrolled/attended a Georgia school for six weeks in the previous year.
  • Parents promise they’ll be taught reading, grammar, mathematics, social studies and science.
  • Students enrolled in a Department of Juvenile Justice school are not eligible for the program.

If H.B. 999 passes, the 14 members of the appointed Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC) will appoint eight parents of participating students to six-year terms on a promise scholarship parent review committee. In turn, the commission’s appointed executive director would appoint eight members to one-year terms on a review committee to oversee the funding of students (a) who reside in Georgia and (b) attended school six weeks the previous year.

H.B. 999 has a huge loophole that allows non-citizens $6,000 per year for private schools and tax-funded colleges. The GSFC funds citizens and “persons” alike, although “persons” include unlawful residents. Lines 298-302 of H.B. 999 state the current GSFC purpose as follows:
“Purpose of commission [GSFC]. The purpose of the commission shall be to help improve the higher educational opportunities of citizens and persons in this state by serving as an agency and budget unit within the executive branch of state government for the purpose of carrying out and effectuating the powers, duties, and functions set forth in this part and in Chapter 2B of this title.”

ACTION – OPPOSE. Call House Education Committee Representatives Dubnik, Ch., 404 656-7857; Erwin, V-Ch., 656-0188; Belton, Sec., 656-3947; Benton, 656-5126; Cantrell, 656-0152; Carter, 656-0220; Cheokas, 463-7853; England, 463-2247; Evans, 656-0109; Glanton, 657-1803; Hill, 656-0325; Howard, 656-6372; Jasperse, 656-7153; Jan Jones, 656-5072; Todd Jones, 463-2246; LaRiccia, 651-7737; Mainor, 656-0126; Nguyen, 656-0314; Nix, 656-5146; Paris, 656-0109; Rich, 656-5087; Setzler, 656-5143; Wade, 656-0188; Wilson, 656-6372.

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August 2019 Newsletter

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Guns in Georgia: Questions & Answers1

Can you have a loaded gun in your car in Georgia?
Yes, any person who is not prohibited by law from possessing a handgun or long gun may have or carry it in his or her vehicle (owned or rented by you). In a vehicle you do not own, you must have the permission of the person who has legal control of the vehicle.

Can you drink and carry a gun in Georgia?
You may not discharge a firearm while under the influence. You may carry with a valid permit in restaurants that serve alcohol, unless posted (GA Code 16-11-134).

Is Georgia a Stand Your Ground State?
Yes. A person has no duty to retreat and is justified in threatening or using force against another when the person reasonably believes such threat or force is necessary to defend himself or herself or a third person against another’s imminent use of unlawful force or to prevent death or great bodily injury. Force may also be used to prevent the commission of a forcible felony, such as rape, armed robbery or kidnapping (GA Code 16-3-21).

Is Georgia an Open Carry State?
No. You must have a Georgia Weapons Carry License (WCL) or a license from a state that

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May 2017 Newsletter

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“Gray Death” Opioid Confirmed in Georgia

“If you put this in your body you will die, no questions asked. This is something that I want to be very clear about … it’s not a scare tactic … it’s not a shock factor. …if you put this drug into your body you will die, it will kill you.
There’s a reason why it’s been nicknamed Grey Death. It is deadly.”
– Shelby County Alabama Drug Enforcement Task Force Commander Clay Hammac

Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Russ Baer says gray death is a combination of heroin, fentanyl and other fentanyl-class substances, such as Carfentanil, a tranquilizer for use on elephants and other large animals. Atlanta law enforcement coined the term “gray gravel heroin” in 2012. Recently, the GBI confirmed Georgia’s first gray death victim as a 24-year-old female in Brookhaven who died February 10, 2017, and described the opioid as follows:

“The gray material was found to contain a toxic cocktail of opiate drugs. The ingredients vary, but often contain heroin, fentanyl, furanyl fentanyl, and U-47700, mixed together in the same powder. The solid material has the appearance of gray concrete mixing powder, with texture variations from light/powdery to chunky/rock-like.”

Reportedly, gray death can be absorbed through the skin, is 10,000 times more potent than morphine, 100 times more powerful than fentanyl, and includes Carfentanil, the elephant tranquilizer described as “crazy dangerous” by a Colorado DEA spokesman. The GBI lab first identified it as gray death in March and, so far, has found it in about 50 different drug seizures.

Three New Laws to Fight Opioid Epidemic in Georgia

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