A Georgia mayor has dared the state's attorney general to "sue us" over new gun-storage rules that clash with the Peach State's constitution.
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson issued the defiant challenge Friday night after Attorney General Christopher Carr said the city ordinances were "ultra vires"— Latin for "beyond the powers" — and void, local TV station WJCL reported Saturday.
"The AG told me the new gun storage ordinance was illegal. Well, we don't agree so we're saying take us to court. Sue us. We'll go to the Supreme Court and let the United States Supreme Court say it," Johnson reportedly said on Facebook Live.
Johnson added, "We got lawyers, too, we pay good lawyers, we have some of the best lawyers and so we can agree with our attorney general so the gun ordinance doesn't go anywhere. Sorry," according to WJCL.
Under ordinances passed by the City Council and signed into law last month by Johnson, gun owners in Savannah can only keep firearms in their vehicles if the doors are locked and the weapons are "securely stored" and out of sight.
The rules also require gun owners to notify police within 24 hours of the theft or loss of a firearm.
Violations are punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
In a Friday letter to Savannah City Attorney Bates Lovett, Carr said his office was never contacted to provide a "courtesy review" of the ordinances.
"Had this Office been requested to do so in this matter, our analysis would have concluded that the ordinances directly conflict with, and are preempted by, state law," he wrote.
Carr said that Georgia law prevents local governments from regulating the possession, ownership, transport or carrying of guns and other weapons, and that the state constitution bars the enactment of local laws "in any case for which provision has been made by an existing general law."
Carr also warned that Savannah faced "potential civil liability" over its new rules and said officials "should give immediate consideration to rescinding" them.
City officials said Saturday that the ordinances would continue to be enforced, according to WJCL.
A spokesperson for the attorney general didn't immediately respond to a Monday morning request for comment from HNGN.
As of April 27, Savannah police had made 106 gun arrests this year and recorded the same number of aggravated assaults involving guns, down slightly from the 120 recorded during the same period last year, according to official crime records posted online.
