ATLANTA -- Gun control activists made a longshot attempt Wednesday to revive a bill in the Georgia legislature to ban assault weapons. The bill has gone nowhere and is all but dead for the year.
The bill to ban assault weapons in Georgia was among the first introduced last year and quickly got a thumbs down from the legislature’s Republican leadership. But the mass murder at Florida’s Parkland High School should have changed attitudes, say backers of the assault weapon bill.
"Today is different than a month ago. We are in crisis," said Clare Shexnyder, a Decatur mother who founded a group called Stop School Shootings Now.
She assembled gun owners to call for the legislature to at least consider the assault weapon ban.
"We all should be able to own weapons, guns," said David Yeager, a Roswell hunting enthusiast. "Like I say pistols, rifles stuff like this. Shotguns for hunting game. But you don’t need to distribute guns throughout the community for hunting people."
Last week, members of the group recorded a hallway encounter with one of the legislature’s foremost backers of gun rights, Representative Alan Powell (R-Hartwell), chairman of the House public safety committee.
"How do you feel about the deaths at Parkland high school?" Shexnyder asked Powell. "I think it’s tragic," Powell answered, adding later "I am opposed to violence. But I respect the second amendment rights."
Both sides stood their ground.
"Have you received (campaign) contributions from the NRA?" one activist asked Powell.
"I hope I have!" Powell answered as activists exclaimed in disbelief.
Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation to address school safety but with no proposed restrictions on gun access.
