WHY SHOULD WE CARE ABOUT GUN SAFETY IN GEORGIA?

People killed with guns in Georgia 2012-2022

US combat soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan

Guns are the leading cause of death for children in Georgia. In 2023, at least 131 children were shot to death in Georgia. The youngest was six months old.

In 2020, 82% of female intimate partner homicide victims in Georgia were killed with a gun.

26 states have Safe Storage laws that are reducing firearm deaths. Georgia is not yet one of them.

Boys and young men are four times more likely to commit suicide if they live in a home with an unlocked gun.

• Require a background check on the purchaser of a firearm when the seller is not a licensed dealer. • Impose any waiting period between the time of purchase and the actual physical transfer of a firearm. • Prohibit individuals convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors or individuals subject to domestic violence protective orders from possessing firearms or ammunition . • Establish a minimum age requirement to possess rifles and shotguns. • Require gun owners or purchasers to obtain a license or registration for a firearm. • Expressly make it unlawful for an adult to negligently or recklessly leave unsecured firearms accessible to unsupervised minors. • Require a locking device to accompany the sale of a firearm, and generally does not require firearm owners to affirmatively lock their weapons. • Require any permit or background check for “lawful weapons carriers” to carry handguns openly or concealed in most public spaces. • Prohibit, with some exceptions, lawful weapons carriers to carry concealed handguns at any public institution of postsecondary education. • Does not impose a duty to retreat before using force in self defense or in defense of another (Stand Your Ground law). • Regulate or prohibit the sale or possession of assault weapons or large capacity magazines.

Data Sources: • CBS News: Gun Ownership by State (April 14, 2022) • Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence: Georgia Gun Laws • WSBTV2 Atlanta: 131 Georgia teens and children were shot to death in 2023 (December 13, 2023) • The Current: Suicide rates of teenage boys are skyrocketing because of firearm access (September 27, 2023) • National Library of Medicine: Firearm Storage in US Households With Children (February 22, 2022) • JAMA Network: Firearm Storage in US Households With Children (February 22, 2022) • Everytown Support Fund: Everytown Releases New Research Highlighting 2023 as Worst Year for Unintentional Shootings by Children, Georgia Saw 194 Incidents of Unintentional Shootings by Children from 2015-2023 (March 21, 2024) • Georgia Commission on Family Violence: Family Violence: Georgia Statistics & Trends (May 2023) • Georgia State University: Can Better Gun Safety Practices Improve Teen Suicide Rates? (September 24, 2021) • Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence: Georgia Gun Deaths: 2019 (February 2021) • Everytown Research: Gun Violence in Georgia (February 2020) • UN Women/Women Count: National Study on Violence against Women in Georgia 2022 (December 20, 2023) • KFF: Child and Teen Firearm Mortality in the U.S. and Peer Countries (July 18, 2023) • WSAVTV3: Gun deaths on the rise in Georgia, nonprofit says (June 28, 2023)