Georgia Supreme Court upholds law restricting handgun carry for young Georgians

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The Georgia Supreme Court this week upheld a gun restriction law.

Credit: AP Photo/Kate Brumback, File

The Georgia Supreme Court is upholding a state law that bans most Georgians under 21 from carrying handguns in public

The justices said in ruling Wednesday that while Georgia’s constitution guarantees the right to bear arms, the state legislature determines how they are carried.

Georgia State University law professor Anthony Michael Kreis said the court's unanimous ruling is based on the state constitution, not a Second Amendment debate.

“If people want to advocate for a less restrictive regulatory regime, they are free to do so," Kreis said. "They have to go to the Legislature and ask for that. But the state courts are not going to do that for them, because our constitution is so plainly clear that this is a legislative judgment question."

The challenge to the law was brought by a 20-year-old Georgia man wishing to carry a handgun in public, and was rejected by a lower court before it was appealed to the state supreme court. Georgians under 21 with military training are exempt from the law, and Georgians 18 to 21 years old can carry a long gun in public.