The city of Savannah, Georgia thought the state's law preempting gun control except by the General Assembly didn't really apply to them. So, they passed a gun storage ordinance that would punish people who had guns stolen from their cars.
It was nonsense and while the local media largely ignored the state's preemption law, pro-gun voices didn't. Now, the city took it on the chin after trying to prosecute someone for it.
Part of the problem was that while a defense against a city ordinance often doesn't make a lot of sense financially, it does when a gun rights group gets involved and is willing to back that defense.
SAVANNAH, GA (November 1, 2024) – Today, Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced that charges have been dropped against its member, Mr. Deacon Morris, following an FPC-backed defense against the charges that included an affirmative attack on Savannah, Georgia’s gun control ordinance. In the case, the government had been criminally prosecuting Mr. Morris for violating the city’s gun storage ordinance despite Georgia’s firearm preemption law that makes the city’s ordinance invalid. FPC’s defense of Mr. Morris was a parallel action to its Belt v. Savannah case, a civil lawsuit challenging the same ordinance.
“Governments often rely on steamrolling criminal defendants and coercive plea bargains, but Deacon Morris had excellent counsel, a strong defense, and FPC in his corner. We are delighted that Mr. Morris can finally walk away from this outrageous prosecution and we can now turn attention to our Belt v. Savannah lawsuit, which we hope will end enforcement of Savannah’s unlawful ordinance once and for all,” said FPC President Brandon Combs.
That is often true, unfortunately. They threaten and cajole people into taking deals so as to not risk worse sentences if they lose. Plus, while our system is supposedly designed to make it easier on the defense than the prosecution, there's still a massive disparity in resources, among other things.
This isn't exactly a terrible thing when dealing with an accused murderer, but when we're talking about someone being prosecuted for a law that isn't even legal, it's a big issue.
All gun control laws in Georgia have to be created by the General Assembly. It can only apply in a particular city, but the state legislature is the only entity that has the authority to do so beyond Congress itself. In theory, this doesn't preclude gun control laws, but in practice, it does. Gun control isn't happening in Georgia no matter how much the anti-gunners in Savannah want it.
But the city didn't care. They figured it was better to ask forgiveness than permission and pushed it through anyway.
The thing is, that's not how it works.
Unfortunately, though, they're not wrong enough. What I mean is that there are no teeth to most states' preemption laws. Local officials can ignore it and while the law won't be permitted to stand, it can cause a lot of damage in the meantime and those responsible will never be held accountable directly.
Florida, however, has a law in place that allows fines for the individual lawmakers and specifies that it must come out of their own pocket, not taxpayer funds.
We need more of that.