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One year anniversary of HB 89 arrives without dire consequences
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HB 89 went into effect one year ago today, legalizing the bearing of firearms into restaurants that serve alcohol, state parks, and mass transit. At the time that HB 89 passed, many dire and hysterical predictions were made as to the likely consequences of legally armed citizens in these locations.
"...how long will it take for a drunken argument to break out in a restaurant leading to an escalated gunfight with dozens of innocent Georgians paying the price for this legislation?"
- J.D. McCRARY, Atlanta, AJC "What Do You Think?", Published on: 05/08/08
It hasn't happened.
"Restaurateurs had nightmares over liability issues that come when 9mm semi-automatics mix with surly waiters and dirty spoons." AJC's Political Insider column, February 21, 2008.
"If you set aside one hour in the evening so the shooting will be between 10 and 11, we might be all right," said state Sen. Steve Thompson (D-Marietta). "That way, the other people could have their dinner and go home before the shooting starts."
And here is one that is completely divorced from reality.
MARTA bus drivers already have 1,000 signatures on a petition demanding bulletproof shields, should HB 89 be signed into law.
. . .
"The method in which I would choose to wind up handling security and safety on the MARTA system is not by vigilantism," said Beverly Scott, the system's general manager. "That's insanity."
. . .
"The presumption needs to be, in order to have a safe city, that there are no concealed weapons," the mayor said.
. . .
Terry Jackson, another MARTA driver with 12 years' experience, has started a petition demanding protective shields for bus operators —- if this legislation passes.
"We don't want cameras. Cameras don't save people's lives. ... We want something that gives us a fighting chance," Jackson said.
-- Atlanta Journal Constitution, April 25, 2008. You can read the original hysterical article in all of its glory here. Of course, no bullet proof shields were installed on the buses, and not one single accident, injury, or lost gun incident by a firearms license holder has occurred on the MARTA system in the year since HB 89 went into effect. It is useful from time to time and go back to see what people said about the bill in order to determine how much credibility bill opponents should have in the future.
What was going to be the result of HB 89, which went into effect in Georgia last July?
I think that you will have hotheads and cowboys carrying guns just wanting someone to shoot. If you had a robber or shooter in a restaurant and 5 or 6 customers with guns start to shoot, you could end up with many innocent people killed. As far as knowing that others have weapons, will not be a deterrent to some drug crazy or insane person that decides to shoot up a restaurant, school or bus. More guns means more people shot.
--Anonymous poster at the August Chronicle on May 19, 2008
Well, was he right? More people shot? Alice Johnson, of Georgians for Gun Safety, recently commented to the author of this article, regarding similar comments she had made, "Not yet." We'll keep waiting. Of course, Alice Johnson's view on HB 89 was stated in the AJC on April 4, 2008, "It's the most sweeping change in Georgia's history. It's awful!" An email she sent to opponents of HB 89 in the spring of 2008 claimed, "Innocent bystanders and law enforcement personnel stand a greater chance of being accidentally shot if more citizens carry concealed weapons in public . . ." and that it was "deadly legislation" that "seriously compromises community safety."
Sometimes it is helpful to remember what people like this say, especially when it is being repeated the next time a new piece of legislation is introduced. At what point do honest, logical people cease paying attention to it? At what point do we cease to ascribe the motivation for such speech to innocence and honestly good intentions? With one year of experience behind us involving hundreds of thousands of Georgia firearms license holders, any detached observer would have to conclude that these people have now lost all credibility by making such outrageous claims and predictions.
