The ruling by Chatham County Superior Court Judge Benjamin Karpf did not address the civil lawsuit’s argument that the Savannah ordinance violates a Georgia state law that broadly prohibits local governments from regulating guns.

Instead, the judge dismissed the case on Nov. 22 after finding that gun owner Clarence Belt lacked legal standing to sue the city. Belt isn’t a Savannah resident and hasn’t been cited for violating the city’s gun ordinance.

Savannah’s mayor and city council voted unanimously in April to outlaw keeping firearms in unlocked vehicles, with maximum penalties of a $1,000 fine and 30 days in jail. They said the law would make it harder for criminals to steal guns, and cited local police statistics showing more than 200 guns reported stolen in 2023 from vehicles that weren’t locked.

  • foggy@lemmy.world
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    24 days ago

    Yeah, I mean they made known they were from another city. So like they weren’t there in their squad car. They were out of state. Off duty. Open carry. Disappeared (major downtown area) and returned like 10 minutes later (literally either in a bush or in their meter-parked city-sidewalk civilian vehicle).

    And like, tf am I to assume. I was probably 19? 20? My thought is y’all did not drive here (2 timezones away, they said what city they were cops in). So probably a rental.

    I reported it immediately, no idea what happened. Just… Yeah.

    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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      24 days ago

      yeah, so chances are fairly solid they did drive. Either they drove in, or they chartered a coach bus. (brewer’s fans tend to do that.).

      There’s really no “reason” to assume that it was totally unsecured though. at least none that would induce a cop to investigate another cop. It probably was unsecured, but it probably wasn’t left in a bush or something. firearms aren’t exactly inexpensive.