CARLTON FLETCHER: You in Georgia, boy, where guns are way more important than the lives of our kids

Mama, put my guns in the ground, I can’t shoot them anymore. That long, black cloud is coming down. I feel I’m knocking on Heaven’s door.

— Bob Dylan

Just so there’s no mistakin’ – this being an election year and all – those good ole boys in the Georgia Senate got the jump on showing how bigga upstanding, gun-totin’, 2nd Amendment protectin’, right-thinkin’ group they are by making the first law passed in this 2026 legislative session a law that makes sure the rights of all those good guys with guns are safeguarded.

The state Senate voted to ban cities from requiring gun owners to lock up their guns in cars, striking down a city of Savannah ordinance that outlawed leaving handguns, shotguns or rifles in unattended vehicles unless they’re securely stored.

Damned right!

Who wants to put the hardship of having to secure weapons or — heaven forbid — lock car doors on these poor, righteous gun owners who have every right to keep their guns handy, you know, just in case?

The fact that Savannah officials said the ordinance reduced gun thefts in Savannah by 30% in the year since the city enacted it is immaterial. This is Georgia, by God, and in Georgia our elected officials want everyone to know that their guns are welcome in the Peach State, no restrictions necessary.

And, just to make sure there’s no misunderstandin’, the bill passed by the Senate also allows weapon carriers who receive citations to sue local governments for $25,000 plus attorney fees if this precious freedom is infringed upon. Just in case, you know, anyone got uppity and decided they wanted to go against the right thinkin’ of this august group.

But, let some deranged kid notice a gun lying on the seat of a car in some given parking lot, steal it, and blow away a few of his school classmates or shoot up a day care center, and these God-fearin’ Republican senators – and their counterparts in the state House, who agreed to this bill at the end of last year’s session – will make up for the loss by offering “thoughts and prayers” to families whose children are slain.

It’s not enough for people like Georgia’s elected officials to quietly OK gun rights that they think are reasonable enough to protect their constituents. They have to pound their chest and proclaim that there will be no gun restrictions in this state. It’s kind of what’s expected of them by the gun lobby that hands out “contributions” to the good little boys and girls who do as instructed. “We don’t care how many innocent people get shot up and killed by these always more dangerous weapons,” they’re told. “Just make sure you don’t do anything that would hinder a sale.

Good ole state Sen. Colton Moore, a Republican from Trenton, said the bill passed by the Senate would protect the rights of gun owners. In Savannah, 41 people reportedly received citations under the city’s ordinance, which carried a maximum penalty of a $1,000 fine and 30 days in jail.

“You can travel the state freely knowing you’re not going to be a victim of a crime and then be made a criminal as we’ve seen in Savannah,” Moore said during the debate on the legislation known as Senate Bill 204. “We’re putting freedom back into the hands of the citizenry.”

Savannah’s ordinance required guns left in vehicles to be securely stored in a glove compartment, console, locked trunk, or behind the last upright seat of a vehicle without a trunk. The ordinance also mandated that unoccupied vehicles must be kept locked when there’s a gun inside.

Does anyone – anyone outside the GOP delegation of the state legislature, and, of course, the governor and all his toadies as well – see how such a law is in any way restrictive? In fact, the bolder among us who do not fear the ridicule of that same self-righteous bunch, might even say this timid restriction is little more than common sense.

But we’re Georgia, and there’s no place here for common sense when it comes to the freedom to openly tote our weapons and, by God, use them if we deem it necessary. If you don’t think so, move to one of those pansy states that put restrictions on this God-given right. There ain’t no place ‘round here for people like you anyway.

Email Carlton Fletcher at [email protected].