A decision taken by Georgia
legislators to allow licensed Georgia
gun owners to carry their firearms in public places has led to an inquiry on
whether people are permitted to take their firearms with them in the nation’s
busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International.
The airport’s director, Benjamin R. DeCosta, said that the
law should only be applied to public city transportation like buses or city
subway and added the fact that carrying a gun in an airport would be very
problematic and also dangerous. He declared the airport a “gun-free” area and
emphasized that anyone who was found in possession of a handgun, would be
detained and accused of misconduct.
A Georgia
gun rights association filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Atlanta on Tuesday after
airport officials stated that they would maintain a ban on concealed weapons in
the passenger terminal in spite of the modifications of the state law. The amendments,
approved by the Georgia
legislature in spring and applied on Tuesday, unwind the state’s ruling out on
carrying weapons on public transportation and in some other areas, including bistros
which serve alcohol drinks.
The difference of opinion in Atlanta arrives at the same time when the
directive of firearms across the country is in its changing process. In an
assessment made last month, the United States Supreme Court maintained the
individual right to own a gun for personal use. In a 5 to 4 verdict slaying the
District of Columbia’s
ban on firearms, the court declined the perspective according to which the
Second Amendment promoted the right to own arms only in cases of “well
regulated militia.”
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