The Georgia Senate Safe Firearm Storage Study Committee heard testimony from a state representative from UTAH and a gun safety organization in Texas about steps they’ve taken to encourage gun owners to lock up their firearms without imposing mandates.
Representative Steve Eliason said the Utah legislature has passed a series of bills aimed at safe firearm storage with strong bipartisan majorities going back to 2013 including trigger locks and biometric gun safes. They’ve established tip lines that allow callers to make authorities aware that a student may be planning a school attack and a created a mental health component that includes a licensed clinical social worker available 24 hours a days, seven days a week. Another bill Utah lawmakers have passed allows people suffering mental health issues to put their name on a restricted list so they can’t buy firearms for whatever period of time they feel they need.
The Georgia Senate created the study committee back in March, but the issue of safe firearms storage took on greater urgency last month when two students and two teachers were shot to death at Apalachee High School near Winder. Democratic Georgia Sen. Emanuel Jones who is the study committee’s chairman, says the panel is due to make recommendations, including any legislation it might introduce, before the General Assembly convenes for the 2025 session in January.
