In Georgia, it’s easier to carry a gun into a church than to find a common ground on what “safety” really means. The principle of the Second Amendment, meant to promote responsible defense, has been warped into an excuse for permitless carry, causing excessive danger in exchange for freedom.

In 2022, Georgia lawmakers passed SB319, allowing most adults to conceal a firearm without a background check or safety training, making Georgia the 25th state to adopt “permitless carry.”  While supporters like Governor Brian Kemp believe the law protects “the safety and constitutional rights of our citizens,” statistics from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tell a different story. Firearm deaths in the state have risen above the national average to over 19 deaths per 100,000 residents, and gun thefts from vehicles have surged in cities like Atlanta and Savannah since the law was passed. The law may have promised liberty, but in practice, it has created a landscape for uncertainty, where “self-defense” is too often the explanation for another preventable death.

What makes this issue so urgent is how quietly the policy reshapes daily lives. Teachers run lockdown drills, store owners install panic buttons, and parents think twice about letting their kids attend large events. The normalization of carrying firearms, whether in belt buckles, in cars, or even in public parks, changes how people move, speak, and trust one another. Georgia’s permitless carry law may have expanded where guns can go, but it has also narrowed where many people feel safe to go. 

However, beneath the surface of safety and freedom concerns lies a political battlefield where ideology often outweighs evidence. In Georgia, passing gun legislation has become less about protecting citizens and more about signalling allegiance to political parties. Lawmakers push expansions of gun rights even as data from the FBI and CDC show rising firearm deaths and theft, framing the opposition as anti-freedom rather than pro-safety. As a result of extreme partisanship, reasoned discussion about public safety is drowned out by political posturing, leaving the real consequences, like the number of lives lost due to gun violence, largely ignored.

Allowing permitless carry may sound like empowerment, but it strips away one of the few safeguards that keeps firearms out of the hands of potentially dangerous individuals. Without a required background check, individuals with violent criminal records, histories of domestic abuse, or serious mental health issues can legally carry a concealed weapon in public. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, over 25% of denied firearm purchases in states with background check systems involve individuals convicted of felonies and domestic violence. Enabling felons to carry a weapon without a permit is extremely dangerous, especially given the fact that two-thirds of ex-offenders repeat crimes and are rearrested within three years of being released from jail. A simple background check doesn’t restrain anyone’s rights; it protects our communities and ensures the safety of public spaces from potentially dangerous individuals.

Although permitless carry supporters argue that guns are essential for self-defense, firearms actually have a net harm on the security of our communities. Statistically, firearms in homes are far more likely to be used in suicides, accidental shootings or domestic violence rather than in lawful self-defense. Public health research has found that having a gun in a home is associated with a significantly increased risk of manslaughter or suicide for household members, not a reduction in danger. At the same time, large-scale studies have shown that more permitless carry laws don’t reliably reduce violent crimes; they are instead associated with higher crime rates. 

States that still require background checks and permits, like New York, New Jersey, Hawaii and Massachusetts, consistently report some of the lowest firearm death rates in the country. Meanwhile, states with permitless carry, including Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama, rank among the highest, according to Pew Research Center data. By erasing the need for permits and background checks, Georgia has traded prevention for reaction, forcing law enforcement and communities to deal with problems only after they’ve turned violent. This erosion of accountability doesn’t protect citizens; it isolates them, leaving the public to navigate an armed society where repercussions come too late.