[gunsmoker]

Permit or No

Like they said above, since you have a permit, you can carry it any way you want in a car-- open or concealed, or partially open, in a container of any sort, etc.

What Malum is referring to is my suggestion for how somebody WITHOUT a PERMIT (and no reciprocity, no exceptions from that Code section) might legally carry a gun in their vehicle "fully exposed to view," rather than being in a closed glove box or other closed container or compartment in the vehicle.

The way the courts have interpreted "open carry" in a vehicle and without a permit, you'd have to pretty much hang it around your neck on a short chain or tape it to your forehead. And if I suggested taping it to your forehead with DUCT TAPE, I was mistaken. I am sorry for suggesting that. Duct tape is opaque, and thus blocks the view of the weapon.

The tape should be clear, such as those wide rolls of box-sealing tape. Having a buddy pass several swaths of Saran wrap over your face as you hold the gun to your forehead will work, too-- just be sure that you can get your hand free afterward, and don't forget to cut out some holes to breathe and see through.

 

[gunsmoker]

Tickets Deserved

I can't see myself fighting a speeding ticket anytime soon. I have a clean 7-year MVR, but that's only because of the "10 mph over" rule for radar or laser evidence, and the fact that there's almost never a cop around when I go more than 10 over. If you count each road I drive on each day as a separate offense... figure 10 violations a day for the last 10 years... 3,650+ violations.... and I am one of the slowest and most careful drivers I know!

This is another example of how absurd our laws are. We define perfectly normal and reasonable behavior as a "crime" and announce that we are going to punish it (with the potential for a huge, Draconian punishment), but then of course we DO NOT enforce the law strictly and the normal punishment is just a tiny fraction of what the Code section provides for. Why? Because if we really fully enforced all the stupid laws we have, the people would revolt! At the very least every elected official responsible for the crackdown would have his head handed to him on election day.

In the old days, people would tell you with a straight face that many of Georgia's laws were only written so that they could be selectively enforced against minorities. Today that won't wash. So now what's our excuse for making everything illegal (and half the things "felonies") and just trusting cops and prosecutors to only apply the law to some people, some of the time?

 

[gunsmoker]

Local Ordinance Abuse

"It's bad enough that the legislature gets carried away when defining criminal behavior and establishing massive ranges of potential punishment. GA law also permits municipalities to define crimes, and they do so with a vengeance"

YES, and in the breakroom of my local county courthouse is an official notice that proves your point. It announces that the County Commission has decided to ban smoking in any government-owned building, including within a certain number of feet of any entrance or exit. Well, that sounds reasonable enough. Hardly controversial, right? Well guess what kind of PENALTY they attached to that conduct? Up to 60 days in jail for every offense, even a first offense, and they took special note to say that every act of violation and every day of violation is a separate offense. So if we discover that some public employee who works in this courthouse has been regularly taking his smoke breaks outside but only 10 feet from the door rather than the minimum of 20 feet or whatever, and he's been doing this as a matter of habit and routine at least 4 times a day for the last year, we could put this guy in prison for about 118 years. Oh, and he would not have any right to court-appointed counsel to defend him, if he could not afford his own attorney, because the potential sentence "for each violation" would be less than six months, even though the sentences could be run consecutive to add up to much longer than 6 months. Doesn't that sound just perfectly fair to you???

 

[gunsmoker]

CORRECTION

Okay, now I'm not sure which of the following rights does not attach (per federal Constitutional purposes) for crimes which carry a six-month or less: The Right to Appointed Counsel, or The Right to Trial by Jury. Or both. It doesn't come up often, as you can imagine, and I was just going by memory from something I read long ago.

 

[gunsmoker]

Locked Containers

Georgia law doesn't require that the containers be lockable, or locked. They only have to be "closed." The phrase found in our statute is "closed container." A woman's purse is such a container, if it is zippered shut. A paper bag is not, even if the top is folded-over or crumpled. I once heard of a judge issuing an arrest warrant on a guy who had a revolver in a tennis raquet case, which had a hole in it for the handle of the raquet to stick out from. Everybody connected with that case agreed that if the raquet cover had a zipper running its entire length and was in fact fully zipped, it would be a "closed container," but the presence of a 2" diameter hole may have removed it from the "closed" classification.

The issue of "locked" or "secure" containers comes up in the context of other state laws, federal regulations on flying commercial airliners with guns in checked baggage, and the federal "safe passage" law that supercedes local laws on the interstate transportation of guns in a private passenger vehicle.

Of course this isn't legal advice. I'm not anybody's lawyer. None of y'all reading this are clients.