GOA-Backed Bill Becomes Law in Georgia

And now there are 25!

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R)

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) today signed Constitutional Carry legislation into law, making the Peach State the twenty-fifth state to abolish the need for carry permits.

GOA rallied our grassroots members multiple times urging each legislative chamber and the governor to support permitless carry.

Now, exactly half of the country has embraced Constitutional Carry, and the momentum isn’t slowing down.

Four states have enacted GOA-backed Constitutional Carry laws this year. The first three were Alabama, Ohio and Indiana.

Florida also appears to be close to passing Constitutional Carry, potentially bringing the total number of states to twenty-six. Stay tuned!

Nearly Half of America’s State Attorneys General Support GOA on Bump Stock SCOTUS Petition

Erich Pratt (second from left) joins GOA’s “Dream Team” of attorneys outside the federal court building in Cincinnati, prior to GOA’s official appeal to SCOTUS.

Gun Owners of America (GOA) received support from 22 State Attorneys General last week with an amicus brief in favor of GOA’s Supreme Court petition challenging the reclassification of a bump stock as a machine gun.

GOA filed a petition last month for Writ of Certiorari in the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) challenging the ATF’s 2018 reclassification of bump stocks as “machine guns.”

GOA’s petition argues that the ATF circumvented Congress in their attempt to create new federal law. Its overly broad definition of “machinegun” could be used to ban other legal firearms.

Consider that the ATF has reclassified Forced Reset Triggers as devices that convert semi-automatics to machine guns. And yesterday, the agency announced its intention to regulate homemade firearms.

In a statement to the press, GOA said, “When you give the government a step, it takes a mile. With nearly half of our country’s top law enforcers supporting us on our petition to the Supreme Court on bump stocks, it shows that Americans want the government to stop trampling on our right to keep and bear arms. Anti-gun bureaucrats have no business chipping away at the Second Amendment, and we at GOA will continue to challenge anyone who tries.”

The Attorneys General from the following states have signed as petitioners on GOA’s behalf: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

GOA Helps Advance Gun Rights in the Mountain State

GOA staff, pictured front left, joined our friends at the West Virginia Citizens Defense League’s Lobby Day in February to advocate for expanding gun rights in the Mountain State.

In March, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice signed into law the GOA-backed Keep, Bear, and Drive with Arms Act.

This law expands gun rights by legalizing loaded long guns in vehicles.

When the law goes into effect on May 24th, gun owners will be able to defend themselves with the weapon of their choosing while in transit.

GOA members and staff assisted passage of HB 4048 by lobbing state lawmakers in the capitol, in addition to grassroot calls to action.

GOA Rallies Hunters to Defend the Second Amendment

GOA’s team at this weekend’s expo from left to right: Stephen Willeford, Kailey Nieman, Mark Jones and Felisha Bull.

GOA ladies sporting Second Amendment Hunters Caps.

GOA’s Second Amendment Hunters exhibited at the Ducks Unlimited Everything Outdoors Expo this past weekend.

The GOA team educated sportsmen and sportswomen about GOA’s efforts to protect Second Amendment rights, as well as the American hunting tradition and hunter opportunities.

GOA also staff also discussed our efforts to end the federal regulation of suppressors under the National Firearms Act and our efforts to fight against recent anti-hunting groups who petitioned the Biden Administration to ban the interstate transport of legally harvested wild game.

Our motto, “The Second Amendment isn’t about hunters, but hunters should be about the Second Amendment” took center stage as we engaged hunters on why they should be Second Amendment advocates.

Gun owners can order GOA’s 2A Hunter caps here.

GOA in the News

GOA’s Jordan Stein (left) with Paul Valone of Grass Roots North Carolina.

• For three consecutive years, the Florida Republican-led legislature has killed Constitutional Carry. Writing in The Truth About Guns, GOA’s own Luis Valdes explains exactly what is at stake for
  

  GOA’s Erich Pratt with the next Senator from North Carolina, Ted Budd.

  Floridians during this upcoming special session. And in this article, Valdes explains how Florida’s carry permit law remains as one of the last vestiges of the Jim Crow south.

  Make sure to also check out the local Fox affiliate story showing how Constitutional Carry would have enabled and empowered Florida’s Cassie Carli with the right to self-defense.

• Leftists pounced on the recent tragedy in Sacramento and called for more ineffective gun controls. But Sam Paredes, Executive Director of Gun Owners of California, reminded the nation that the Golden State’s strict gun laws have not prevented criminals from committing violence in a state which is one of the nation’s leaders when it comes to mass killings.
• Finally, GOA’s Jordan Stein took second place in a steel plate match this past weekend. In a competition hosted by Grass Roots North Carolina, Stein was awarded the second place trophy by GRNC head Paul Valone (see the picture above).

GOA’s Erich Pratt spoke at the event, along with GOA-backed Senate candidate Ted Budd. Budd is a sitting U.S. Representative and is currently leading in the polls for the U.S. Senate race in North Carolina.