Chicago, Atlanta vying for convention

CHICAGO — The battle between Chicago and Atlanta over hosting the 2024 Democratic convention is heating up with a new claim from Illinois that Georgia’s lenient open-carry gun laws — already an issue with several public events in Atlanta — could make security a nightmare.

With a decision possibly weeks away, officials involved agree that Atlanta and Chicago appear to lead New York, the third of the finalists still under consideration. Union officials have for weeks pressed President Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee to pick the more union-friendly city; Chicago has 45 unionized hotels, while Atlanta has just two, they say.

But recent events have brought a new argument: Georgia’s lenient gun laws could make it extremely difficult to keep firearms away from the delegates. The Secret Service is likely to declare the convention a “national security special event” and supersede state ordinances with its own rules inside a fortified perimeter.

But in hotels, along bus routes and at meetings and parties far from the core convention sites, guns could find their way in, security consultants warn.

Georgia Democrats have scoffed at the pitch. State Farm Arena, which would be one of the main sites of the convention should Atlanta win the bid, has protocols that prohibit carrying a firearm, despite gun laws that ostensibly allow weapons in most public spaces.

Doug Shipman, president of the Atlanta City Council, said the city had hosted big events since the state passed its first open-carry law — derided by opponents as the “guns everywhere” bill — in 2014. The city also has strong security relationships with federal, state and local law enforcement, he said.

The political significance of hosting the convention in a swing state that Biden narrowly carried in 2020 may supersede other hurdles, Atlanta boosters said.