Carrying in car without license.

[gh1950]

Thank you for your input,was very helpful. What I had mean to say wuz,how old does you hafta be to do this. Better?

Do what?

If you are talking about carrying a firearm in a vehicle, there are two age limits, maybe three, which not everyone appreciates. If you look at subsection (a) quoted above, it says [in part] "inside his or her home, motor vehicle,", so if it's "his or her vehicle" the age limits would be 16 for a long gun, and 18 for a handgun, 16 because that's the minimum age to drive.

The kicker that a lot of people overlook, and which gets misstated in a lot of the interwebs is in subsection (d) which very obliquely refers to someone in a vehicle that is not his or her vehicle, i.e. a passenger. Here the law states," d) Any person who is not prohibited by law from possessing a handgun or long gun who is eligible for a weapons carry license may transport a handgun or long gun in any private passenger motor vehicle; " What this means is that by implication, the passenger must be 21, that being the minimum age to be eligible for a GWL.

Whether this age distinction was intended by the legislature is one of those imponderables the answer to which we will never know.

From time to time I post a question about the minimum age to have a handgun in a vehicle in Georgia, here and on other forums, and it is always surprising the number of LEO who think it is 21. They rely on the fact that an FFL cannot sell a handgun to a person under 21, despite the fact that in Georgia a private sale is perfectly legal.

People who read the news may remember the incident of Isiah Crowell, football player at UGA. He was stopped near the UGA campus, the cops searched his car and found a pistol with an altered serial number, He was kicked out of school. He was charged with carrying a gun on school property, and possession of a firearm with an altered serial number, The DA eventually dismissed it for some bogus reason, but the real reason is that his vehicle was stopped in a bus bay on a county street, and was never on UGA property, and the search was arguably legal, but the seizure of the gun to examine he serial number was not. DA didn't want all that to come out in court and embarrass the kiddie cops, so he dismissed on the grounds that Crowell didn't know the serial number had been altered.

 

[RiverBend]

Your vehicle is not an extension of your home.

True, but as far as safety, it is,
"your vehicle is not an extension of your home because you do not have the same expectation of privacy in both. However, you do have the same expectation of safety and may defend yourself in most situations in your car the same as you would inside your home."

 

[John Monroe]

True, but as far as safety, it is,
"your vehicle is not an extension of your home because you do not have the same expectation of privacy in both. However, you do have the same expectation of safety and may defend yourself in most situations in your car the same as you would inside your home."

I'm probably going to regret jumping into this thread, but your car is not an extension of your home in any meaningful sense. They just are not the same. There are times when the law treats them the same or similarly and there are times when it treats them completely differently. They probably are treated differently way more often than they are treated the same. Trying to explain or define when they are treated the same by saying a car is an extension of a home is just a fabrication that is misleading.

 

[RiverBend]

OK, I am similarly, differently confused by that reply.
Fabrication, it is not,
Georgia Code Title 16. Crimes and Offenses § 16-11-126
(a) Any person who is not prohibited by law from possessing a handgun or long gun may have or carry on his or her person a weapon or long gun on his or her property or inside his or her home, motor vehicle, or place of business without a valid weapons carry license.

 

[gh1950]

OK, I am similarly, differently confused by that reply.
Fabrication, it is not,
Georgia Code Title 16. Crimes and Offenses § 16-11-126
(a) Any person who is not prohibited by law from possessing a handgun or long gun may have or carry on his or her person a weapon or long gun on his or her property or inside his or her home, motor vehicle, or place of business without a valid weapons carry license.

The statute you quoted has 3 distinct places where the legislature has determined that you may carry a gun. They are not related for any reason other than that. You never hear anyone say "your place of business is an extension of your home." Yet it has the same relationship to your home for unlicensed carry as your automobile does.

It wasn't that long a ago that no one could carry a concealed weapon in their automobile. The gun had to be carried in plain view on the seat or dashboard. No one claimed that that situation was because your automobile was an extension of your home.

Plain and simple, you can carry a gun in your automobile without a license because the legislature says you can. It could just as easily say you can't and go back the old law. There is no great legal principal behind the the legislative decision.

For ex. you can now carry in a restaurant that serves alcohol if you have a permit. Not that long ago you couldn't do that. You can do it now, not because the restaurant is an extension of your home, but because the legislature said you could.

FWIW, the phrase "your automobile is an extension of your home" is not used in any legal context in any decision in the United States. It is strictly an internet meme, right up there with the choking doberman.

We have had this discussion before (not you and I, it just seems to come up about twice a year) and the only source the other party to the conversation could come up with was blog from a Mormon PR person with a junior college education.

 

[John Monroe]

OK, I am similarly, differently confused by that reply.
Fabrication, it is not,
Georgia Code Title 16. Crimes and Offenses § 16-11-126
(a) Any person who is not prohibited by law from possessing a handgun or long gun may have or carry on his or her person a weapon or long gun on his or her property or inside his or her home, motor vehicle, or place of business without a valid weapons carry license.

+1 for gh1950's response.

RiverBend, all you have done is cite one of the (few) instances when homes and cars are treated similarly. As gh1950 points out, the statute says nothing about one being an extension of the other.

If a counterexample would help, consider searches and the warrant requirement. If the police come to your home for some reason, and smell marijuana, or even see it sitting on the coffee table when you open the door, are they allowed to enter your home over your objection, seize the marijuana, and arrest you, all without a warrant? No they are not.

If they pull you over in your car for some reason, and they smell marijuana or see it sitting on the seat next to you, are they allowed to enter your car, seize the marijuana, and arrest you, all without a warrant? Yes, they are.

If the car were an extension of the home, why wouldn't the same rules for searches and seizures apply?

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

A motor vehicle is certainly NOT an "extension of your home"
when it comes to the 4th Amendment (warrantless searches and seizures).
See Carroll v. U.S. (1925) and the many cases upholding and expanding the Carroll doctrine which creates an automobile exception to the fourth amendment giving vehicles far less protection than a home.

If the Fourth amendment doesn't apply to cars to the same level of protection as it applies to homes, why would you think that the law treats the 2nd amendment the same way in cars as it applies in homes?

 

[Timber Cruiser]

its a little scary that the cops don't know the laws....

It's lack of professionalism just like in any trade. Some people are on top of their game but sadly, most aren't. And furthermore won't admit to it. GADNR is the worlds worst for not knowing or understanding the laws they are sworn to uphold. Never ceases to amaze me. But like someone mentioned earlier in the thread, they are the law so we kind of have to play along with their ignorance.

 

[GeauxLSU]

It's lack of professionalism just like in any trade. Some people are on top of their game but sadly, most aren't. And furthermore won't admit to it. GADNR is the worlds worst for not knowing or understanding the laws they are sworn to uphold. Never ceases to amaze me. But like someone mentioned earlier in the thread, they are the law so we kind of have to play along with their ignorance.

To be fair, we are 39 posts into a thread answering what seemed like an easy direct question. The laws are ridiculously confusing and game laws are worse. I actually don't blame LEO for not knowing every nuance of every law, but I do blame them when they are wrong and a dnozzle about it.

 

[Timber Cruiser]

To be fair, we are 39 posts into a thread answering what seemed like an easy direct question. The laws are ridiculously confusing and game laws are worse. I actually don't blame LEO for not knowing every nuance of every law, but I do blame wthem hen they are wrong and a dnozzle about it.

Touche. And congrats on the Natty brother. That was a hard 4 hours of football for me to watch.