It gets worse....
Judge rules: No guns in airport GeorgiaCarry.org, Rep. Bearden had contended new law nullified ban.
By BILL RANKIN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/11/08
People with firearms licenses still can't take guns into non-secure areas of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, a federal judge ruled Monday.
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U.S. District Court Judge Marvin Shoob refused to grant a preliminary injunction that would have stopped the city from enforcing the airport gun ban. Shoob ruled against gun-rights group GeorgiaCarry.org and state Rep. Timothy Bearden (R-Villa Rica).
Bearden sponsored House Bill 89, which became law on July 1 and permits people with firearms licenses to carry guns in state parks, restaurants that serve alcohol and on mass transit.
But Shoob said allowing concealed weapons into non-secure areas of the world's busiest airport will make the airport less safe and require it to substantially revise its security procedures.
City officials say that 80 percent of the airport is "non-secure" — areas were people have not been screened at a security checkpoint."There can be no doubt that the public has an interest in safe air travel," Shoob said. "Here, the evidence demonstrates, at the very least, that there is a significant question as to whether permitting the carrying of guns in the airport is a serious threat to the public safety and welfare."
Shoob issued his ruling from the bench at the close of a two-hour hearing. He also said the plaintiffs failed to prove H.B. 89, which allows guns on "public transportation," applies to airports.
The case brought by GeorgiaCarry.org and Bearden moves forward. Shoob's ruling only addressed their request to allow those with permits to carry guns into the airport while the lawsuit makes its way through court.
Bearden, who expressed disappointment with the ruling, filed suit after airport general manager Ben DeCosta threatened the lawmaker with arrest if he brought a gun to the airport.
At Monday's hearing, Robert Kennedy, the airport's assistant general manager in charge of operations, maintenance and security, said the public is highly concerned about airport safety.
"We can't get away from a post 9/11 environment," Kennedy testified.
Kennedy said if a gun were to be accidentally discharged in a non-secure area it would cause mass panic. "It creates, in my mind, a stampede," Kennedy said.
At the hearing, Shoob peppered lawyers and Kennedy with questions and, at one point, injected some levity into the proceeding. If people were allowed to carry handguns into the airport, he suggested, people might not be cutting into lines and there may not be "any hanky-panky" in the rest rooms.
But Shoob also said GeorgiaCarry.org and Bearden had failed to show there is a substantial likelihood they will ultimately succeed in their lawsuit— one of the hurdles they had to clear to get a preliminary injunction.
John Monroe, the lawyer for GeorgiaCarry.org and Bearden, said he will press forward with the lawsuit.
"There's no law that criminalizes s carrying a firearm into the airport," he said. "For the defendants to arrest someone for what's not a crime is a violation of their constitutional rights."
Michael Kenny, a lawyer for the city, noted that Congress gave the Transportation Security Administration the authority to regulate whether handguns can come into airports or not.
"Congress said, after 9/11, airport security is the highest priority," Kenny said. "This is serious, deadly stuff."
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/08/11/guns_at_airport.html?cxntnid=bn_2008-08-11_17_00_id331_e
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