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Georgia Senate Agrees to House Substitute for SB 204 After Floor Debate Over Local Gun Ordinance
Summary
The Georgia Senate voted to agree to a House substitute for SB 204 after floor debate about whether the bill would undercut municipal gun ordinances such as Savannah’s. The motion passed by recorded voice vote (32–21); senators debated preemption, public safety, and enforcement.
The Georgia Senate on the floor agreed to a House substitute for SB 204 after a round of floor speeches in which backers described the measure as restoring statewide authority over firearms rules and opponents warned it would undercut local public-safety measures.
Senators voted to agree to the House substitute by recorded counts of 32 yeas and 21 nays. Senator Moore (identified in the transcript as "Senator Moore of the 50 third") brought the motion to agree to the substitute; the motion was debated and carried, and senators later considered a motion to transmit the bill to the governor’s office.
Supporters framed the measure as a reaffirmation of state preemption. A senator identified in the hearing as the "Senator from the 14th" told colleagues the House substitute restored preemptive authority statewide and would allow “any citizen [to] sue a place like Savannah for violating their gun rights at a tune of $25,000 per occurrence,” calling the change a restoration of citizens’ remedies and urging favorable consideration.
Opponents said the House substitute would erase carefully tailored local efforts. A senator identified in the hearing as the "Senator from the second," speaking for the City of Savannah, said the local ordinance regulates leaving a loaded firearm unsecured in a vehicle and “has reduced gun theft by over 30% in 1 year in the city of Savannah alone,” and urged colleagues to vote no so local public-safety benefits would remain intact.
The chair called the vote on the motion to agree; the clerk reported the yeas and nays as 32 and 21, respectively, and the chair announced the motion prevailed. A subsequent request for unanimous consent to immediately transmit SB 204 to the governor was met with an objection on the floor; the motion to transmit was put to a recorded vote and reported as 31 yeas and 21 nays in the transcript. The transcript records the motion as prevailing after the roll, though it also contains a brief contradictory line; the Senate minutes should be consulted for the official certified disposition.
The debate centered on two recurring points: (1) whether state-level preemption is necessary to protect gun owners from a patchwork of municipal regulations, and (2) whether specific municipal ordinances—such as Savannah’s restriction on unlocked loaded firearms in vehicles—address a demonstrable local problem and should remain in place. Those positions are reflected in the remarks quoted above.
Procedural notes: the bill’s caption as read on the floor described changes to the Official Code of Georgia Annotated concerning trial procedures and certain criminal provisions (as recited by the secretary on the floor). The Senate removed and reassigned committee references for other bills during the same session but no additional substantive floor amendments to SB 204 were recorded in the transcript.
After the votes, the majority leader moved adjournment; the presiding officer adjourned the Senate until 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, January 14.
