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Under current law, gun owners must file an application for a weapons carry license if they want to carry a concealed firearm in public. But a new measure proponents call "constitutional carry" has passed the Georgia General Assembly and goes to the governor's desk to become law — despite worries about who will slip through the cracks without the background check a gun permit requires.

Credit: File photo

A civil rights activist is challenging Georgia's controversial self-defense law in federal court.

The Rev. Markel Hutchins says he filed the lawsuit Monday in Atlanta in response to the death of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old killed in February by a Florida neighborhood watch captain who has said he shot the unarmed black teen in self-defense.

The lawsuit claims Georgia's law leads to the "unnecessary use of lethal force" that could endanger residents. Hutchins called the law "bad public policy."

The Georgia Attorney General's office declined comment.

Martin's death has ignited racial tensions and stoked debate about so-called stand your ground laws in Florida, Georgia and 19 other states. The laws give people wide latitude to use deadly force rather than retreat during a fight.

Tags: Trayvon Martin, Stand Your Ground, Rev. Markel Hutchins