Have you purchased your tickets for the 4th Annual GeorgiaCarry.Org Convention yet?

Tickets are on sale now through July 31 – but don’t wait too long to purchase your tickets.  We are once again offering a $25 dollar discount on all-inclusive Friday/Saturday tickets through June 30!  Plus, if you register and purchase your tickets (All-inclusive or Saturday only) by June 30, you will be automatically entered in a drawing to win the hottest handgun on the market today – Smith and Wesson’s brand new Shield 9mm donated by Autrey’s Armory in Fayetteville, GA!

Winner must be present at time of drawing Saturday night.  Anyone attending the convention that purchased their ticket early will be eligible to win this pistol, excluding GCO Board Members, Officers, and the Executive Director. 
Tickets for this handgun can only be obtained by purchasing your all-inclusive ticket on or before June 30, 2012.  No other tickets will be offered for sale at anytime to win this handgun. 

Once again, along with the all-inclusive Friday/Saturday tickets, we are offering the option of purchasing Friday evening only tickets as well as Saturday only tickets. Also available is the option of making 5 equal payments if you are purchasing all-inclusive Friday/Saturday tickets.

If you have never attended the GeorgiaCarry Convention, you’ve missed out on a terrific weekend packed full of fun activities, informative, educational and enlightening seminars, great food and drinks, games, auctions, exciting speakers, and camaraderie with the people directly responsible for sweeping changes in Georgia’s gun laws – YOUR FELLOW GEORGIACARRY MEMBERS!

Friday evening’s festivities will include dinner (included with your ticket), raffle games like “Kill the Zombies” with airsoft guns and our exciting poker tournament. Not to mention the opportunity to see old friends and make new ones!

Saturday will be crammed full of activities from breakfast (included with your ticket) until the end of our big Gala Dinner (included with your ticket). {You are on your own for Saturday Lunch!}  We’ll have more seminars this year than ever before, including one for those interested in preparing for unexpected disasters. There will be self defense instructors and legal advisers speaking and answering questions. There will also be a “Meet the Board” session where members can come and ask questions of all GeorgiaCarry board members and Executive Director. But most importantly, we’re going to focus our attention on lobbying efforts – not only on GeorgiaCarry’s efforts, but what individual members can do to help accomplish our goals.

A larger Vendor Show (open free to the public! – see below) will be held all day Saturday with more options and vendors than ever before. Before dinner we will have a nice cocktail hour and silent auction in one of the ballrooms. Finally, our exciting Gala Dinner with guest speaker David Codrea, master of ceremonies Moby, awards and live auction conducted by Jeremy Doan of  Doan and Associates Auction Company (GAL 3594).

New for the Convention this year is the ability for members and non-members alike to attend the Vendor Show absolutely free of charge. This will allow members of GeorgiaCarry.Org and even the general public to get a taste of our convention without spending a dime. Members will also be able to attend the “Meet the Board” session without purchasing a ticket, however, non-members will not be allowed in this session.

Please come out and enjoy Georgia’s flagship Second Amendment event! 

John Monroe was interviewed on the motion to dismiss the baseless lawsuit against Georgia’s Stand Your Ground law and debated Plaintiff’s council Robert Patillo on Channel 11′s 11Alive News at 7:00 PM on Monday April 23rd. The 11Alive video of the interview can be seen on 11Alive’s website here.

GCO has filed a motion to dismiss the case filed by Rev. Markel Hutchins to have Georgia’s so-called “stand your ground” law ruled unconstitutional. Yesterday, GCO moved to intervene as a party in the case, to represent the interests of its members. Today’s latest motion seeks to have the case dismissed on the grounds that Rev. Hutchins has no standing to sue to challenge the law. The brief in support of the motion to dismiss may be found here.

GCO has filed a motion to intervene in Rev. Markel Hutchins’ lawsuit against state officials challenging the constitutionality of the so-called “stand your ground” law in Georgia. GCO seeks to represent the interests of its members, who are not adequately represented by the existing parties in the case. The brief in support of the motion to intervene may be viewed here.

GCO has filed another supplemental letter brief in its appeal of the case against the church carry ban in Georgia. In this supplement, GCO points out to the court that a U.S. District Court in North Carolina has ruled that the Second Amendment applies outside the home and that strict scrutiny applies to laws burdening the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. The latest supplement may be viewed here.

To all GCO Members and Friends,

Thank you for all your work in contacting the House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee chairman and members.  You work has, once again paid off as SB98 was favorably reported out of the House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee by a vote of 8 to 3 this morning.  The bill now goes to the House Rules Committee where it may be recommended for a floor vote.

Please contact the following House Rules Committee Members asking them to send SB98to the House floor for a vote:

House Rules Committee Members

Please remember to be firm but polite when urging your elected officials to support passage of SB98 to restore a portion of our second amendment rights.  Be sure to note that you are a member of GeorgiaCarry.Org.

You should begin to contact your representatives and senators requesting they support SB98.  If you are not aware of whom your elected officials are, please go to the GCO Legislative Info page here and follow the instructions on the page.

If possible, we will keep you updated when the bill moves from the Rules Committee to the floor, etc. so we can contact our elected officials.  However, please remember at this time of the session, bills move with lightning speed at times so don’t delay in contacting your elected officials.

Again, thanks for an outstanding job of contacting the Speaker and the House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee.  Without your support, we would not have a gun bill in Georgia this year.  You, our members are what make this organization’s efforts successful!

Federal appellate rules provide that new authorities after oral argument can be brought to the Court’s attention via letter to the clerk. Because two recent district court decisions have found that the Second Amendment applies to the states, an issue in GCO’s case challenging Georgia’s ban on carrying firearms in churches, GCO has submitted a letter advising the clerk of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals of that fact. The letter may be viewed here.

The letter below was sent from Jerry Strange to the GCO Board of Directors:

Gentlemen,

I thought you might be interested in this event that happened in my daughter’s Business Law class last night, at Jacksonville State University.

As part of my daughter’s senior year of classes, she is required to take a business law class. This class is taught by a professor who is a Board Member of Jacksonville State University, an attorney, and a Judge in the local districts.

It is a small class of maybe 30-40 students, and is taught in a very informal atmosphere. Last night’s topic centered around the impact that businesses or groups of people can have on the laws that affect them. He was trying to explain that groups of people cannot directly make laws about topics that interest them, but that by working in an organized group, they can have a major impact.

He discussed PAC’s, lobbyists, etc., and the way they work. This topic lead to a discussion about issues that had been raised in the past few years concerning JSU. One of the issues had been the carrying of firearms on campus. A group of folks tried to force a lawful action of stopping the carry, and it was shut down when it was explained that it was legal and has
been for quite a while. He explained that the group had not done their homework, and had no idea how the laws worked.

After some discussion, he asked how many students were from Georgia, and about 20 or so raised their hands. He then asked how many had heard of a group called, you guessed it, GeorgiaCarry!!! Only my daughter kept her hand raised. He asked how she was familiar, and she explained that she was a member, as was her dad.

He then went on to teach the class about our background and the way we have had such an impact on the Georgia firearms laws here in the State of Georgia. He used GCO as an example of how a group of people had worked together to influence the lawmakers in Georgia to reach a desired goal.

He then went on to explain that GCO also took on cases for individuals, if they felt it would better the citizens of the State of Georgia. As an example, he started telling about a recent event concerning a “fellow” who had a confrontation at a local State Park, when he was confronted by a ranger demanding to see his GWCL.

At this point, my daughter just busted out loud laughing. The professor asked why, and she had to explain that he was talking about her dad. He laughed, checked her last name, and then replied that he should have remembered the “Strange” last name.

He discussed the events, how it was handled, and used GCO as a model for a group of “citizens” using the legal system for the better good of the group. She told me he was very complimentary of our methods, and liked the methods we used.

Who would have thought, GCO used as an example, a “business model”, in a University in Alabama!

Sincerely,
Jerry Strange

The winner of the Henry Big Boy Rifle is GCO member Andrew Dole, a paramedic from Athens.  Andrew has been a member of GCO since March, 2008.  Below is a picture of the lucky winner along with GCO Diamond Corporate Sponsor and Owner of Autrey’s Armory in Fayetteville, Ben Autrey.  Ben donated the rifle and our newest Platinum Sponsor, GT Virtual Concepts in Newnan donated the beautiful engraving of the GCO logo.

L-R GCO Member Andrew Dole, Ben Autrey

The engraved logo on the Henry Big Boy Rifle has been programmed into a CNC machine and is easily reproducible from GT Virtual Concepts in Newnan. Contact Golda for pricing.

Andrew commented that this was the first thing he had ever won and only bought the ticket the day before the drawing.  He stated he figured he was only donating his money to GCO, which he did as did everyone who bought tickets.  Thanks to all who enter the raffle!  Congratulations to Andrew Dole and many thanks to Autrey’s Armory and GT Virtual Concepts for their generous donations to this fundraiser.