The issue of gun violence in Georgia was top of mind for some elected officials and local Athenians this past weekend. Advocates held both a town hall and a parade to draw attention to the issue.
Amnesty International, Athens-Clarke County Democratic Committee, Moms Demand Action, and Athens’ state representative Spencer Frye hosted a town hall meeting on Saturday to address gun violence.
Representative Frye’s chief of staff Juliana Hartley spoke about House Bills 1, 2, 3 and 4, which she says are “common sense” gun laws. These laws, if passed, would limit accessibility to firearms by requiring safe storage, background checks, and a 3-day waiting period for firearm purchases or transfers.
“Rep Frye is a huge advocate in the state house, he’s a co-sponsor on one of these bills, we worked on all of them together. But unfortunately right now we don’t have a majority in the house,”
Hartley encouraged citizens to vote in the upcoming 2026 election to better address gun laws in the state. According to the Georgia department of public health, Georgia is ranked 15th in firearm-related deaths in the U.S.
The town hall was followed by the second annual ‘Rally Up Guns Down’ parade on Sunday. The event was hosted by the nonprofit The Handy Foundation, Inc.. Specialty cars, motorbikes, and hearses made their way through Athens in a stance against gun violence. The nonprofit’s founder Lamar Handy spoke after Sunday’s parade about how gun violence especially hurts the Black community.
“A lot of the time we wait until it affects our family to then want to rally up, put the guns down, then once the week is over with, we go back to our everyday lives and it's back to that. That has to change.”
Athens-Clarke County 5th District Commissioner Dexter Fisher also read a proclamation from Mayor Kelly Girtz declaring that the fourth Sunday of July will be considered ‘Rally Up Guns Down Awareness Day.’
