The gun rights debate intensifies with 2020 election nearing

ATLANTA — Georgia voters in 2018 elected a Democratic congresswoman who gained fame as a gun control advocate after her teenage son was shot to death, and a Republican governor who aired attention-grabbing ads handling a double-barreled shotgun while talking with a nervous young man trying to date his daughter.

The massacres last week in Ohio and Texas punctuated how a gun rights debate that already helped shape last year’s election could become an even larger issue in Georgia in 2020, further cementing a divide between politicians over firearms. Polling and interviews show voters appear to have a more nuanced view than their representatives.

It also highlighted the persistent gridlock over sweeping proposals in Washington that seek to combat gun violence and smash the all-too-predictable cycle of outrage and then inaction that seems to follow each mass shooting. With Congress away on a five-week recess, that rift seemed as intractable as ever.

That point was driven home as grieving families mourned the victims and President Donald Trump used a national address to support “red flag” laws that would allow authorities to take guns away from people who pose a danger to themselves or others. In Georgia, Republican officials greeted his words with trepidation.

Gov. Brian Kemp said he is “closely monitoring” the discussions over the proposal but did not offer to support a state version of the legislation. Other GOP leaders were even more circumspect.

“Let me take a look at it when we get to see some legislation,” U.S. Sen. David Perdue said Wednesday. “To say I’m for red flag — that would be an overstatement because of concerns I have about due process.”

There’s a reason for the edginess. State Republicans face pressure to prevent future mass shootings but are also pushed by gun rights activists, who hold immense influence in primary contests, to oppose any new restrictions. Within hours of Trump’s remarks, some conservatives in Georgia threatened to pull support for Perdue if he backed the proposal.

For Democrats, one of the most violent weekends in recent U.S. history provoked an escalating response. Some revived calls for gun control measures. But others pushed for new, more aggressive tactics, such as pressing Walmart to stop selling firearms or forcing a “shutdown” of the Senate until it passes gun control legislation.

“People are genuinely upset about the tragedies of this weekend,” said state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur. “When you start hearing chants of ‘do something’ at rallies, that reflects the mood of voters in Georgia and across the nation. People want action from their elected officials.”

A GREAT GUN DIVIDE

For all the gridlock in Washington, Georgia’s Republican-controlled Legislature has moved steadily to expand gun rights.

A 2014 law allowed Georgians to legally carry firearms in a wide range of new places, including schools, bars, churches and government buildings. Two years later, another new law allowed people with firearms permits to carry concealed weapons onto public college and university campuses.

During this time, Democrats have gone through a fundamental shift on the issue. State Democratic leaders once proudly courted the National Rifle Association for its endorsement, but leading Democratic candidates last year jockeyed over who hated the pro-gun group more.

That could just be the start. Kemp, whose shotgun-toting ad helped propel him into last year’s GOP runoff, supports permitless carry of weapons and a sales-tax holiday for guns and ammunition timed for the celebration of July Fourth. Meanwhile, even modest proposals to restrict firearms access and strengthen background checks have been nonstarters.

A Georgia version of “red flag” legislation didn’t reach a vote this year, and neither did a Democratic-backed proposal that aims to keep guns out of the hands of those convicted of family violence.

Even lower-hanging fruit has been out of reach. Federal law bans people who have been involuntarily committed for mental health treatment from buying guns, but Georgia lawmakers more than a decade ago passed a law that required the state to purge those records after five years.

Efforts to repeal that law have gone nowhere, though former Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens, a Republican, said Friday that the five-year purge is “dangerous to society” and urged state leaders to roll back the rules.

“It should be based on documentation — that is fairer to the patient and the community,” he said in an interview.

Although there’s been no sign of a shift from state Republican legislators, Oliver said she expects Democrats to make a renewed push for red flag restrictions and a repeal of the records purge next year in hopes of pressuring vulnerable GOP lawmakers in Atlanta’s suburbs to back them.

“They’re reasonable, they’re commonsense and they’re very modest proposals that should be easy to vote for,” she said. “I expected those bills to pass in this year’s legislative session, and I would be even more surprised if they don’t pass in 2020.”

‘POLITICAL EXPEDIENCY’

Consensus has also been difficult to find on Capitol Hill.

A measure to expand background checks that was carefully crafted to attract bipartisan support after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings fell five votes short of a filibuster-proof majority — and that was when Democrats controlled the Senate.

This year, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has so far refused to take up a pair of Democratic-backed bills approved by the House that would require federal background checks for all firearm sales and transfers, and an expanded FBI review for gun purchases flagged by the current background check system.

Republican leaders have said such legislation would infringe on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans while doing little to address mental illness and criminals who obtain their weapons through illegal channels.

“I’m hopeful that in the wake of a very emotional time we don’t have an emotional reaction,” said U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga. “If we’re going to do something, let’s look at things that actually would work and … make sure our civil liberties are protected as well.”

As the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, Collins will be central to any compromise on firearms. He introduced a narrower measure earlier this year that seeks to make it easier for law enforcement to share information about violent threats, which he said would spur the kind of coordination that could have prevented other mass shootings.