WABE's Week In Review: Gwinnett and guns dominate the Capitol conversation

The bill that advanced in the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday would do away with the need for a license to carry a handgun in public — either openly or concealed on one’s body. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A bill to end the state requirement for gun carry licenses in Georgia is moving forward. On Tuesday, a Senate committee advanced the legislation, which supporters call “constitutional carry.”

Among the measure’s promoters are groups of out-of-state gun rights activists featured in the Pulitzer Prize-winning NPR investigative podcast “No Compromise.” These groups raise money across the country promoting absolutist gun laws and targeting Republican lawmakers who don’t support their efforts.

State lawmakers take over redrawing a key Gwinnett County voting map…

Federal hate crimes trial to begin in Brunswick…

Earlier this week, Travis and Gregory McMichael had reached a plea deal with prosecutors. The two were already serving life without parole in state prison for killing 25-year-old Arbery, who was Black.

Under the plea deal, they would admit the killing was racially motivated, would get 30 more years in prison and be moved to federal custody. The family of Arbery opposed the deal, and the judge nixed it saying she did not want to be bound by the sentencing guidelines.

The McMichaels, along with William Bryan, chased Arbery through their south Georgia town before Travis McMichael shot and killed him.

Jury selection for all three men is set to begin Monday. The judge says some 1,000 people across south Georgia were sent jury duty notices for the trial.

Also in this episode…

–Lisa Rayam talks to the authors of “The Steal: The Attempt to Overturn the 2020 Election and the People Who Stopped It.”

–Molly Samuel looks at an effort by scientists to keep a uniquely Georgian animal from going extinct.

For a deeper exploration of Ahmaud Arbery’s story, listen to WABE’s podcast, “Buried Truths.” Hosted by journalist, professor, and Pulitzer-prize-winning author Hank Klibanoff, season three of “Buried Truths” explores the Arbery murder and its direct ties to racially motivated murders of the past in Georgia.