Lawsuit Filed To Carry Weapons In Atlanta Airport

ATLANTA — The nation's busiest airport dueled with gun rights advocates Tuesday over whether a new Georgia state law allows visitors to carry firearms at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

City officials in charge of the airport declared it a "gun-free zone" when a law allowing people to carry guns on public transit and other places took effect Tuesday. Gun rights supporters, including a state legislator who helped pass the law, quickly filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the designation.

"My message is simple: Leave your firearms at home," airport general manager Ben DeCosta told reporters at a news conference.

Atlanta officials said anyone carrying a gun at the airport could be arrested and charged with a misdemeanor.

The new state law allows people with a concealed weapons permit to carry guns into restaurants, state parks and on public transportation.

John Monroe, an attorney for the gun rights backers who filed the lawsuit, argued the Atlanta airport qualifies as public transportation. There are also restaurants in the terminal, which Monroe said should be accessible to gun-toting visitors under the new law.

Rep. Tim Bearden, a Republican from Villa Rica and a former police officer, is a plaintiff in the lawsuit. Bearden sponsored the state law.

He had told a newspaper he would carry a concealed weapon to the airport Tuesday when he picked up his family. But he told The Associated Press by telephone Tuesday morning, "There will be no reason for any confrontation at the airport."

The gun group argues that weapons should be allowed in the terminal up to the point where passengers pass through security to board their flights. The parking lot is off limits under the state law, but it allows travelers to carry a gun on MARTA trains and buses, which run directly to the airport.

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin said citizens can't bring guns into the terminal and argued that airports remain attractive targets for terrorism.

Allowing citizens to carry firearms "would create an environment that would endanger millions of people," she said.

Franklin said she will lobby Congress to withhold federal funds from facilities that allow firearms on their premises.

Comments

[pvernier]

Don't touch my suitcase punk.

[KevinMast]

The ignorance is scary. Bush has taken us back to frontier days. These idiots want to play "Cowboys & Indians". Get me outta here!!!!!!!!!!1

[LeaveArtieAlone]

I need my own planet! WTF?? WHY does one need a gun as a VISITOR to the airport? This makes no sense!! If you must have one with you on the way to the airport (I would have no idea why ), can't you leave it in the car? Seriously, WTF????

[laocoon]

Hey Dude havent you seen any Diehard movies!!!!!!

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

What next, a move to allow handguns ON the planes?

Hey, I'd like to start a well-organized militia. From rows 21-27.

[rcozad]

They already have in a fashion, the crew can carry weapons now. The first incident..­.a shot fired accidentally by a pilot that went through the fuselage! Flight had to be canceled. The news on what happened to the cowboy pilot is unknown .

[blfaul]

Didn't he get a medal of freedom?

[darthdarcy]

If you ask Scalia everyone has a right to bring guns on board a plane and especially to Church..

Let's get those Guns in the Churches America..!

[lisakaz2]

You wonder why that's not a demand. It seems if guns are so dang sacred...

[MoeB]

How many violent crimes are happening at state parks that they need to carry GUNS??? If people want to own guns in their homes, that's fine I guess. I'll concede that one. But in public??? I'd hate to see the image of america, who already has issues w/road rage, carrying guns to shoot people who piss them off. I get this creepy feeling that most responsible people won't carry guns and will eventually be terrorized by those who do.

[ScottCandage]

Let me get this straight. If I fly from Hartsfield, (according to plaintiffs), I'd have to take my shoes off, take my laptop out of its case, can't carry too many matches onto a plane, but coming into the airport with a concealed Glock would be fine? I'm not one to support the restriction of rights, including Second Amendment rights, but the rights of Americans guaranteed by the Constitution are not unfettered rights. There are limits to the exercise of our Constitutional rights, and carrying concealed weapons into an airport surely should be limited, even in a "September 10th" mindset.

[HBeachbum]

You don't have to take your shoes off or take your laptop out or worry about matches until you get to the security checkpoint. The same should go for guns if you have a concealed carry permit.

[lisakaz2]

You could then ask if you have a Constitutional right to keep your shoes on.

[whiskeytangofoxtrot451]

Yeeeeeeee-­haaaaaaaaa­aah!!!!

[Cay]

This is insane. What are these people afraid of? I'm afraid of them.

[vmonter]

Does everyone who studies martial arts do so because they are afraid?
Does everyone who exercises do so because they are afraid?
Grow up.

[hopeless277]

Right on! Guns are fashion accessories. I carry a ruby red Glock!

[mattejob]

Afraid? In your case I would go with the word stupid.

[JustADumbFireman]

Honest to God, this country is full of retards.

[darthdarcy]

Ya think..?

[HBeachbum]

Like the ones afraid of guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens?

[Amennyc]

Are u afraid of drug use in the hands of law abiding citizens?

[thismachinekillsfascists]

Meanwhile the rest of the world stares appalled at America's gun culture...

[vmonter]

appalled at how many people are zealously trying to leave us undefended and untrained

[lisakaz2]

Shouldn't that job be left to professionals? Or is that too elitist a sentiment for you?

[hopeless277]

I didn't realize redneck chickensh**s could read! What a revelation.

[dentuso]

Undefended from what? That's what the rest of the country is still trying to figure out. And the only people against whom you'll have to defend yourself? Someone with.... say it with me... a gun.

And do you suppose that gun was at one point a legal one?

Therein lies the problem.

[dphilip]

Yeah, they're appauled until we come with our guns and save their asses. You know, most humans have an instinct to defend themselves and to survive. How about your instincts when you're cornered..­.."Help...­.....Pleas­e...someon­e help me!!!! I'm appauled at the thought of me or my family begging for their life at the hands of a thug. I guess we're just different.

[mattejob]

You bet we're different - I know how to spell and communicate like an adult. "Appauled"? Twice, no less. I'd laugh if it wasn't so pathetic.