Democratic state lawmakers call for special session to address gun safety

ATLANTA - The chair of the House Democratic Caucus urged Governor Brian Kemp Friday to call a special session to address gun safety laws in Georgia.

"We hereby call for a special session to deal with this issue," said state Rep. Billy Mitchell, D-Stone Mountain.

Rep. Mitchell's comments came during a news conference to mark National Gun Violence Awareness Day and push for what Democrats described as "common sense" gun measures in the wake of a recent string of mass shootings in Buffalo, NY, Uvalde, TX and Tulsa, OK.  

"I want to urge the General Assembly to put all politics aside and to pass some legislation to increase gun safety--background checks before purchasing weapons and to ban assault weapons in the State of Georgia before it's too late," said state Rep. Sandra Scott, D-Rex.  

Democrats said they are willing to compromise on raising the age to buy an AR-15 if an outright ban is not possible.

"We are willing to start somewhere.  Somewhere is better than nowhere.  So, let's see if we can get that discussion going," said state Rep. Debra Bazemore, D-South Fulton.

The only person who can call a special session of the General Assembly is Gov. Brian Kemp.  When FOX 5 reached out for a comment, his office referred to the "school safety update" they sent out the day after the Uvalde shooting that outlined the steps the Kemp administration has taken to address school security.  Those include the $30,000 grants provided to every public school in the state in 2019 to improve security and the $6 million in funding set aside in January for student mental health initiatives.

FOX 5 also covered a school safety round table Gov. Kemp held at the Governor's Mansion in March with superintendents, school resource officers and others.

Democrats said they have recently had some talks with their Republican counterparts about gun safety initiatives, but would not label them as "productive."

"We need folks to come to the table," said state Rep. Rebecca Mitchell, D-Snellville.  "Do the right thing even though it's hard.  Even though you may lose your election because of it, because you might keep someone else's son or daughter alive instead and saving one child is absolutely worth losing every election ever."