Court Opinion

ID: 9584046
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:44:09.288434+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:05:43.355680
License: Public Domain

Fletcher, Presiding Justice,
concurring.
I reluctantly concur in the holding that the firearms manufacturers, distributors, and trade associations are not entitled to the relief sought in these collateral actions, but write to make clear that this determination does not reach the ultimate issue of whether state law precludes municipalities from maintaining actions like the City of Atlanta’s pending suit in the State Court of Fulton County. I believe it does.
Although the State Constitution provides that “[t]he right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,” it gives the General Assembly the sole power to reásonably regulate this right.8 Whether this power is delegable is not the issue, as the General Assembly in unambiguous language has reserved that power to the state alone.9
Considering that statute, I disagree with the trial court’s decision denying a certificate of immediate review in the underlying action. While the trial judge has broad discretion, I question whether that discretion should be absolute when a determination of the issue would more likely than not “be dispositive of the case.” In such cases, both the parties and the judicial system would be better served by granting the certificate, thus affording an opportunity for a more *436timely disposition of the case.
Decided February 16, 2001.
Drew, Eckl & Farnham, James M. Poe, Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue, David J. Bailey, Rogers & Hardin, Richard H. Sinkfield, Tony G. Powers, Kimberly L. Myers, King & Spalding, Richard A. Schneider, William R. Bassett, Jr., Cofer, Beauchamp, Stradley & Hicks, Frank R. Seigel, Smith, Gambrell & Russell, Matthew W. Clarke, David M. Brown, Dennis, Corry & Porter, R. Clay Porter, Alisa W. Terry, Budd, Lamer, Gross, Rosenbaum & Greenberg, Timothy A. Bumann, for Smith & Wesson Corp. et al.
Susan P. Langford, Willie J. Lovett, Jr., Cheryl D. Cofield, Mills, Moraitakis & Kushel, Nicholas C. Moraitakis, Hezekiah Sistrunk, Jr., Ernest L. Greer, for City of Atlanta et al.
Alfred L. Evans, Jr., Senior Assistant Attorney General, amicus curiae.
I am authorized to state that Justice Sears joins in this concurrence.

 Art. 1, Sec. 1, Par. 8; Landers a State, 250 Ga. 501 (299 SE2d 707) (1983); Carson v. State, 241 Ga. 622 (247 SE2d 68) (1978); and Rhodes v. R. G. Industries, 173 Ga. App. 51 (325 SE2d 465) (1984).

 OCGA § 16-11-184.