Georgia judge dismisses lawsuit challenging a city ordinance outlawing guns left in unlocked cars

SAVANNAH, Ga. -- A judge has thrown out a lawsuit by a Georgia gun owner who sought to challenge a Savannah city ordinance that imposes fines and potential jail time for people who leave firearms inside unlocked cars.

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.

City officials passed the ordinance in hopes of finding a way to legally regulate gun safety in a state where Republican lawmakers have widely abolished restrictions on owning and carrying firearms.

Belt's attorney, John R. Monroe, argued during a September court hearing that Savannah’s ordinance violates a state law prohibiting local governments from restricting “the possession, ownership, transport, (or) carrying” of firearms.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, a Republican, made the same argument in a May letter to Savannah officials stating that “no local ordinance can regulate firearms.” City officials ignored Carr’s warning that they could face civil liability for enforcing the ordinance.

“It’s just a matter of time that this ordinance is going to be struck down,” Belt's attorney, John R. Monroe, said in a phone interview Monday.

Monroe said he and Belt haven't decided whether to appeal the judge's ruling dismissing the case. He said Belt, who lives in Jesup, Georgia, about 66 miles (106 kilometers) southwest of Savannah, keeps a gun in his vehicle and is at risk of being cited during frequent visits to the city.

“He has trouble walking and his car doesn’t have power locks," Monroe said of Belt. "To comply with the ordinance, among other issues, he’d have to get out and walk around the car to lock it manually. That extra walking is hard on him.”

Savannah Mayor Van Johnson, a Democrat and a former police officer, has supported the city’s ordinance to make gun owners act responsibly without infringing on their rights to own or carry firearms.

Bates Lovett, Savannah’s city government attorney, argued in court that Georgia law doesn’t expressly forbid local governments from regulating gun storage. He also told the judge that “we're regulating the vehicle, not the firearm” by requiring people to lock cars with guns inside.