Gun owners could get a tax break timed to Georgia deer hunting season

The law would not be limited to hunting equipment, but would extend to handguns, assault-style rifles and any other type of guns and accessories.

Anavitarte also said he was aware of the issues around gun violence, but his bill is not designed to address those.

“At the end of the day the cause of a weapon doing harm is not because of a hunter wanting to purchase a weapon and participate in outdoorsmanship,” he said.

Democrats said this legislation promotes a culture of fetishizing guns and is a slap in the face after two students and two teachers were killed in a shooting last September at Apalachee High School in Barrow County.

State Sen. Nan Orrock, an Atlanta Democrat, called the legislation “tone deaf.”

“We’re sending messages when we write bills, when we present bills and when we cast our vote,” she said. “So I think we have to ask ourselves to look a little deeply into our hearts and just try to put yourself in the shoes of a parent that lost a child in Barrow County to this horrendous school shooting.”

If passed, the sales tax would be removed for sales of guns, ammunition, gun safes, trigger locks and other accessories, such as scopes and magazines.

Senate Bill 47 now goes to the House for its consideration. The Senate approved similar legislation last year, but the bill didn’t get a vote in the House.

Instead, that chamber has been more supportive of House Bill 79. That effort from state Rep. Mark Newton, an Augusta Republican, would provide tax credits of up to $300 per person for taxpayers who purchase a gun safe or enroll in an in-person course on safely handling a firearm.