History of Georgia Gun Owners
Georgia Gun Owners (GGO) was founded in late 2010 by Georgia Second Amendment activist Patrick Parsons. With the gun rights movement essentially “dead” in Georgia, and establishment gun rights groups existing only to serve the politicians with endorsements and praise, Parsons energized hundreds of thousands of Second Amendment activists across the state who had no one fighting for them at the State Capitol in Atlanta. Often, the establishment gun lobby was fighting for the politicians — not for grassroots gun owners.
For 100 years before the founding of GGO, Georgians who wished to carry a handgun were forced to apply for a “weapons license,” pay a tax, wait for a government background check, submit fingerprints, and carry around a piece of laminated paper just to prove to the government they were “allowed” to carry a firearm. GGO’s initial goal was to pass Constitutional Carry!
2010: Georgia Gun Owners is Founded.
Georgia Gun Owners is founded. Only four states — Vermont, Alaska, Arizona, and Wyoming — had “Constitutional Carry,” allowing gun owners to carry a gun for self-defense without having to obtain government permission.
2011-2012: GGO Begins the Fight for Constitutional Carry
GGO runs a full program to educate and mobilize gun owners to demand passage of Constitutional Carry. Longtime Second Amendment champion Rep. Bobby Franklin passes away. GGO recruits a new bill sponsor, Rep. Jason Spencer, who files the bill (HB-679). Gun owners flood the Capitol with pressure demanding action. Speaker David Ralston and Governor Nathan Deal ensure the bill does not move forward.
2013–2014: Constitutional Carry Fight Heats Up
GGO refiles Constitutional Carry with Rep. Charles Gregory (HB-26). GGO’s web, email, and digital program cranks up real heat on the politicians in Atlanta. Governor Deal, facing re-election and angry gun owners, ensures other gun bills pass so he can sign them into law to provide political cover.
2015-2016: GGO Stops Gun Control Bills, and Bills Designed to Silence Us
GGO staves off Rep. Stacey Abrams’ bill to ban AR-15s in Georgia (HB-731), sending a message to the legislature about what happens when you attack gun rights in our state. Speaker Ralston and re-elected Governor Deal try to pass the GAG ACT (HB-370) to force GGO to surrender our donor names under the guise of campaign finance reform. In reality, it was an attempt to silence GGO members by doxing them. GGO defeats the bill.
2017–2018: GGO Resumes Constitutional Carry Fight, Gun Owners Stop Abrams
GGO refiles Constitutional Carry with Rep. Matt Gurtler (HB-156). Speaker Ralston and Governor Deal block the bill and work directly with “Georgia Carry” to provide political cover, posing for pictures and putting out digital updates claiming Georgia didn’t need Constitutional Carry. Lt. Governor Casey Cagle runs for the GOP nomination against Brian Kemp. GGO tells the entire state that Cagle was a longtime enemy of Constitutional Carry — and Kemp cruises to secure the nomination. (All GOP candidates in that primary vowed to support Constitutional Carry — a massive political accomplishment for GGO.) That fall, GGO spends hundreds of thousands exposing Stacey Abrams’ hatred for gun owners, and Kemp wins by 50,000 votes.
2019-2020: GGO Advanced Constitutional Carry, Covid, Parsons Leaves GGO
GGO refiles Constitutional Carry with Rep. Matt Gurtler (HB-2). With Brian Kemp as Governor, new momentum builds behind the bill. COVID slows everything in 2020, but the groundwork is laid for finishing the fight. In late 2020, GGO Founder Patrick Parsons steps away to become Chief of Staff to Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, carrying on the Second Amendment battle in D.C. Parsons and GGO’s board select longtime Second Amendment activist Aaron Dorr to become the next Executive Director of Georgia Gun Owners.
2021–2022: GGO Passes Constitutional Carry, Begins SAPA Fight
GGO files Constitutional Carry (SB-319) with Senator Jason Anavitarte. During the 2022 legislative session, GGO gets the bill to Governor Kemp’s desk, who signs it during a public ceremony that GGO’s team attends. With Biden in the White House, GGO pivots to the Second Amendment Preservation Act (SAPA), which would ensure that Biden couldn’t force Georgia cops to enforce federal gun control. The bill (HB-597) is filed by Rep. Philip Singleton. Alex Dorr joins the GGO team in early 2022 as Political Director.
2023-2024: GGO Blocks Intense Gun Control Push in Atlanta
GGO wages a two-front war to pressure our Congressional delegation to oppose federal gun control while also leading the fight in Atlanta. Senator Colton Moore and Rep. Charlice Byrd file SAPA (HB-293/SB-67). GGO goes all-in to defeat HB-135, which would mandate deadly storage laws for guns; HB-584, which would have instituted ‘Red Flag’ laws; HB-44, which would have created a statewide registry of gun owners; and HB-554, which would have banned the sale of AR-15 rifles. We shut down all of them. GGO runs a massive election program, exposing RINOs in the primaries and commies in the general election.
2025: GGO Works to Improve Georgia’s Pre-Emption Law
GGO files SB-163 with Senator Colton Moore to put teeth into Georgia’s preemption law in response to the City of Savannah’s threat to arrest gun owners who violate their local storage laws. The bill passes the Senate but stalls in the House until the final hours before adjournment. GGO also runs a large mobilization program to successfully crush HB-472 (expanded ‘Gun Free Zones’), SB-19 (a ten-day waiting period on gun sales), HB-64 (mandated insurance requirements for gun owners), and more.