Georgia lawmakers move to strike Savannah ban on guns in unlocked cars

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ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia lawmakers on Tuesday gave final passage to a bill that aims to void a city of Savannah ordinance that imposes fines and possible jail time for leaving guns in unlocked cars.

The state Senate gave final approval to the measure, which says cities and counties can't regulate how guns are stored. It also lets gun owners sue local governments who impose any such rules in violation of state law, collecting at least $25,000 in damages if they win.

Senate Bill 204 now goes to Gov. Brian Kemp's desk for his signature or veto.

Mayor Van Johnson and Savannah’s city council voted unanimously in 2024 to outlaw keeping firearms in unlocked vehicles, with maximum penalties of a $1,000 fine and 30 days in jail. They said the law would make it harder for criminals to steal guns in a state where lawmakers have widely abolished restrictions on owning and carrying firearms.

But the rules have left gun rights advocates fuming, saying that the city is in effect punishing gun owners who had their guns stolen.

“Ultimately what Savannah was doing was regulating citizens right to have a gun in their car,” said state Sen. Colton Moore, a Republican from Trenton, told The Associated Press. “Their car was getting broken into, and they were going from a victim of a crime now to being a criminal. And that’s what we don’t want to happen going forward.”

Johnson said Tuesday that if Kemp signs the bill into law, the city will stop issuing citations.

“Obviously we’re going to comply with the law,” Johnson said in a phone interview with the AP. “So should the governor sign it, we won’t enforce that ordinance anymore. But there might be other ordinances that come forth.”

He declined to say what other type of gun safety measure city officials might consider.

Johnson, a Democrat and former police officer, has touted the gun ordinance as a way to make gun owners act responsibly without infringing on their rights to own or carry firearms. He said Tuesday that the number of gun thefts from unlocked vehicles reported to Savannah police had dropped 30% since the ordinance took effect.

“It’s a sad thing that the General Assembly says over 200 guns stolen from unlocked vehicles is OK,” the mayor said.

Georgia law already prohibits city and county governments from regulating firearm “possession, ownership, transport, carrying, transfer, sale, purchase (or) licensing.”

Savannah city officials have insisted since the gun ordinance took effect that they were regulating storage of firearms, something the state law didn’t explicitly forbid. State lawmakers changed that by adding the word “storage” to the existing law.

Gun control advocates said lawmakers were wrong to preempt Savannah's ordinance.

“Time and time again, young people in this state are told that our safety isn’t a priority. But this bill takes it a step further by actually punishing the cities that are stepping up to protect us when our state lawmakers won’t,” Nolan Tanner said in a statement. He’s a volunteer with the chapter of Students Demand Action at Jenkins High School in Savannah.

In November, a Chatham County Recorder’s Court judge threw out the case of a man cited for violating the Savannah gun ordinance, ruling that it violates state law and the U.S. Constitution.

However, that ruling only applied to the case of the defendant who challenged the gun ordinance as part of his criminal defense. Johnson said at the time the city would keep enforcing it.

Johnson also said he is not worried about the additional legal liability and potential fines spelled out in the bill.

"I don’t believe it could be retroactive,” he said.

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Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia.