Packing Heat in the Airport

In 2008, the Georgia General Assembly passed legislation to give licensed gun owners greater rights to carry their guns in a variety of places: public transportation, restaurants that serve alcohol, and public parks. Although the law’s impact on the workplace generally remains unclear, a group called GeorgiaCarry.org filed suit in federal court, arguing that the new law permitted gun owners to carry guns in the non-secure areas of the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the nation’s busiest. When the district judge dismissed the lawsuit as meritless, an appeal was filed with the llth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

On March 12, the 11th Circuit agreed with the district judge and found that the Georgia law didn’t supersede the airport’s ban of all weapons from all areas in the airport. The court ruled that the public transit systems covered by the Georgia law aren’t the same as airports.

The legislator who sponsored the law has vowed to appeal this case further (presumably to the U.S. Supreme Court) or to “fix this legislatively and spell it out.” I guess that means that there will be an attempt to amend the Georgia law to specifically say that licensed gun owners can carry their guns in the non-secure areas of an airport. If this legislation should pass, there will be another lawsuit, this one arguing that a state law can’t override an airport regulation on guns.

If it turns out that licensed gun owners can lawfully carry their concealed weapons in any area of an airport, then no workplace will be immune from these types of laws. It might also revive interest in the movie Snakes on a Plane.