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Mass killings don't change pro-gun GA politics

Most Georgia lawmakers contend mass killings are about the individual killer and not their guns.

ATLANTA -- The debate over guns changes very little when gun-fueled mass killings make news. Georgia is a state that has broadened gun rights over the last four years.

Thursday, there was a rare moment in the Georgia House of Representatives – passage of a bill designed to restrict, ever so slightly, the spread of guns.

The gun-lobby backed bill makes it illegal to knowingly provide a gun to a convicted felon. But other gun restriction measures have languished – like a bill to ban bump stocks – which can make a semi-automatic weapon shoot like a machine gun.

"It’s horrifying to me, every incident of children murdering children or teenagers murdering children with military type weapons in schools, that we continue to do nothing," said state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur).

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Oliver has sponsored a bill to ban assault rifles. That bill is stalled in a committee chaired by Republican Alan Powell—a vocal second amendment enthusiast. "Banning has never done anything except create another industry, a bootleg industry. The constitution is what the constitution says it is, and people have a right to own a weapon," Powell said Thursday.

Powell says he does favor keeping guns away from the mentally ill. But how to do it, he says is tricky. "The unfortunate case down in Florida (Wednesday) was a 19-year-old mental health case. There’s not a lot we can do except try to be more vigilant in how we describe the permitting process," Powell said.

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And that’s what frustrates Oliver, who think lawmakers can do more. "There used to be real debate about gun safety. Today there is no (Republican) leadership support for any solutions that are meaningful to reduce gun violence," she said.

Yet most Georgia lawmakers contend mass killings are about the individual killer and not their guns. "You know, it’s just an unfortunate situation that things like that happen," Powell said.

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