Allowing anyone to carry a gun in public — without a permit — is a bad, and dangerous, idea.

Still, that is exactly what several Georgia lawmakers want to do. 

And, it has the governor’s full support. 

Gun carry permits are intended to restrict guns from convicted criminals, domestic abusers and people with mental health challenges.

The Judiciary Committee gave its approving nod to the ill-advised measure this week, and it will most likely get a vote.

The Republican-led bill seems to be on a fast track, and we encourage lawmakers to slow down and think. 

Lobbying groups such as the National Association for Gun Rights and the NRA should not be using their money and connections to unduly influence Georgia lawmakers. Instead of listening to lobbyists, our senators and representatives should be listening to mothers and fathers who have lost sons and daughters to gun violence, to shop owners who have been robbed at gun point or the families of law enforcement officers who were gunned down when responding to domestic violence calls. 

Despite the rhetoric, this is not a Second Amendment issue. It is a common sense and safety issue for the people of Georgia. 

Requiring gun carry permits does not impede Second Amendment rights for law-abiding people to own and carry a gun anymore than requiring a driver’s license impedes the ability to own and drive a car. None of us want people who should not be driving on our roadways, endangering everyone around them. 

Surely, no reasonable person wants convicted felons or people suffering from dangerous mental health conditions walking around with a gun on their hip or hidden in their jacket. 

Gun carry permits are not overly restrictive and just make sense. 

The vast majority of Americans favor common sense gun legislation. 

These lawmakers are pandering to an extreme, libertarian-leaning base at a time when gun violence is on the rise. 

Strong Second Amendment advocates are fond of saying that law-abiding men and women should be able to own and carry whatever firearms they want and to defend themselves. Why then, are these lawmakers intent on doing whatever they can to help non-law-abiding people to own and carry whatever weapons they want? 

Romanticizing about a return to the Wild, Wild West is one thing but shootouts at high noon on our city streets, the likely reality, is quite another. 

Gun carry permitting laws and procedures are far from perfect and everyone knows that criminals often ignore laws and find ways to get the guns they want anyway, but why make it even easier for them? 

Why would we want to remove whatever guardrails we have?  Why make our streets and neighborhoods more dangerous? 

April Ross with the Georgia Commission on Family Violence said a 2018 Department of Justice study that found domestic violence incidents represented the highest number of fatal calls for service, accounting for 29% of deaths, which occurred in the line of duty between 2010-16, and 100% of those deaths were by firearm.

As it stands now, a weapons carry license is needed to carry a concealed firearm in Georgia. To obtain one, you must be 21 or older, unless in the military; must have no felony convictions; must have not been in a mental hospital or drug/alcohol treatment center within the last five years; or have not been committed to a mental hospital against one’s will.

The people in Georgia who will benefit the most from this bill are criminals and people who may present a danger to themselves and others. 

This bill, SB 319, is bad for families, bad for businesses, bad for law enforcement and bad for Georgia. 

We encourage our legislative delegation to vote “no.”