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JONESBORO, Ga. - Police are trying to determine if the man found shot to death outside of a Clayton County home on Saturday night was the same man that broke into a neighboring home with two other men. According to information obtained by FOX 5 News, a man arrived at his home located in the 9000 block of Sterling Ridge Lane near Jonesboro around 10:30 p.m. to find someone had forced their way inside. The homeowner, who was armed with a handgun, confronted three burglars ransacking his house. Gunfire was exchanged between the homeowner and the burglars and ended up...

Early Sunday morning, an alleged intruder was shot to death at a Warner Robins home. That's according to a news release from the Warner Robins Police Department. Ronald Lewis Burnett, 36, was found by officers unconscious and lying on the ground outside the house at 205 Thomas Boulevard. He was taken to the Houston Medical Center and pronounced dead, having sustained an apparent gunshot to the chest. Officers were told that Burnett tried to break into the house and was shot by 32-year-old homeowner, Travis Lucas. That happened around 1:25 a.m. Sunday. Neighbor Danielle Haring says she heard at least...

Police in Hinesville have made an arrest in a shooting early Sunday morning involving a homeowner and intruder. According to police, a Fort Stewart soldier, living at the Colonial Park Condos, 1100 Pineland Ave., was upstairs with his wife shortly after midnight when he heard someone enter his residence. He then went downstairs and confronted the intruder with a firearm. The two men exchanged gunfire. The homeowner was taken by medical helicopter to Memorial Health University Medical Center. A man later showed up at Liberty Regional Medical Center in Hinesville with a gunshot wound. He said he had been shot...

CHATSWORTH, GA (WRCB) - Hundreds of people in one north Georgia town are not allowed to drink their water. The water treatment plant in Ramhurst is temporarily shut down after someone broke in and changed the chemical settings. It's affecting about 400 Murray County residents. Local, state and federal officials are investigating who's to blame. Officials with Chatsworth Water Works say the source of the problems is at the Carter's Lake Water Treatment Plant in the Ramhurst area. Saturday workers noticed someone had changed some chemical settings. First, officials issued a "boil advisory" but the Environmental Protection Department bumped it...

James Richardson of Georgia Tipsheet has made the best use of Sanford’s win with this item, comparing his opponent to the Democrats’ likely standard-bearer in Georgia’s 2014 Senate race as someone who’s too far left of the electorate, lacking in political skills, and likely to lose: Left to cope without the party’s top possible recruit, conservative Democratic Rep. John Barrow, who announced he would seek reelection to the House over a Senate bid, Georgia Democrats are now poised to nominate their own Colbert Busch: Michelle Nunn, a prominent nonprofit strategist who boasts a gilded surname in these parts.

VIDALIA, Ga. — For years, labor unions and immigrant rights activists have accused large-scale farmers, like those harvesting sweet Vidalia onions here this month, of exploiting Mexican guest workers. Working for hours on end under a punishing sun, the pickers are said to be crowded into squalid camps, driven without a break and even cheated of wages. But as Congress weighs immigration legislation expected to expand the guest worker program, another group is increasingly crying foul — Americans, mostly black, who live near the farms and say they want the field work but can’t get it because it is going...

WOODSTOCK, Ga. — A Cobb County family says they’re having a hard time sleeping after someone left a burning cross and bloody deer meat on their front lawn. ... Sunday night around midnight, Louis and his brothers were at their home when they noticed something glowing outside. They were shocked by what they found outside. “We just see a flaming cross right there on the ground and we’re just shocked, like, what?” Louis said. Louis said he was primarily concerned about the safety of his brother’s four children and his pregnant girlfriend inside the home.

... When police arrived, they noticed a window in the garage was smashed, the front door of the house was off its hinges, and the mailbox was dented and bloody. Enix kept yelling "Come on!" from inside the home, according to the report. He leaned out of an upstairs window and yelled that police would either have to shoot or taze him before he would be arrested again. When he realized one of the officers was equipped with a less-lethal shotgun, Enix retreated back inside the house. When asked to negotiate, he told police that all he wanted to do...

(Reuters) - A small Georgia town on Monday passed a law requiring the head of each household to own a gun as a way to keep crime down.

The NRA apparently does not want its members to know what is in a gun related bill pending before the General Assembly. SB 101 was amended to do the following things. The NRA apparently does not want its members to know what is in a gun related bill pending before the General Assembly. SB 101 was amended to do the following things. Campus carry on public colleges, except dorms and athletic events; Campus carry on private colleges if the president adopts a policy permitting it; Government building carry where there is no security screening or courthouse (and permitting a way...

A woman arrested in December for allowing men to touch three young children is facing more charges along with her boyfriend, according to jail records and District Attorney Leigh Patterson. Dora Vanessa Gomez, 23, of 84 S. Orchid St., Ellijay, was booked into the Floyd County Jail on a bench warrant charging her with felony pandering a person under the age of 18, felony pimping a person under the age of 18, two felony counts of child molestation and two felony counts of sexual battery. Gomez was arrested on Dec. 7 on two counts of first-degree cruelty to children and...

A reform of the concealed carry law in Georgia passed the house on 7 March. The bill would reduce but not eliminate a number of gun free zones in the State. People with concealed carry permits would be allowed to exercise their Second Amendment rights in airports outside of the security zone, on college campuses (but not in dormitories or at sporting events), and in government buildings that do not have security. Churches would be allowed a greater exercise of First Amendment rights to freedom of religion and assembly, if arrangements are made in advance. Previously, guns were banned from...

Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) boasted in a fundraising letter that he was the first member of Congress to call President Obama a “socialist who embraces Marxist-Leninist policies,” according to text acquired by the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “As a Member of the House of Representatives for the last few years, I have fought tooth-and-nail against President Obama's agenda at every turn,” the letter reads in part. “I was the first Member of Congress to call him a socialist who embraces Marxist-Leninist policies like government control of health care and redistribution of wealth.” Broun, who is running to fill the Georgia Senate...

Harper Polling has just cut loose its first poll in Georgia’s 2014 race for U.S. Senate, showing three Republican members of Congress in a tight bunch: In the Republican primary election for the open seat of Senator Saxby Chambliss, the race is wide open. The field is stacked with Members of Congress. In a state with 14 congressional districts, a Congressman’s statewide name identification is low and his support is confined early on to his district. However, if the field has 6 credible candidates, 35% could win the primary. Congressmen Paul Broun, Phil Gingrey, Tom Price, and Jack Kingston are...

An amendment to remove a reference to firearms from Carroll County’s disaster and emergency ordinance was passed by the Board of Commissioners Tuesday without discussion. The decision to change the ordinance was made to avoid conflicting with Second Amendment issues raised by a Georgia gun rights organization. The action eliminates the word “firearms” from a list of items whose sales could be suspended in case of a local disaster declared by the county commission chairman. The wording was questioned in a Jan. 18 letter, hand-delivered to commission Chairman Marty Smith, by James Camp of Temple, representing GeorgiaCarry.org. Read more: Douglas...

Sen. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville, introduced a bill Jan. 30 that would allow 18- to 21-year-olds to apply for a Georgia weapons carry license so long as they have had military training. The current law only allows those older than 21 to apply for a license. Senate Bill 74 would wave that requirement for any Georgia resident between the ages of 18 and 20 who has graduated basic military training with any branch of the U.S. military or the Coast Guard and allow them to acquire a carry license. For Loudermilk, the bill is another way to help veterans returning to...

Another gun turn in will be conducted at College Park, Georgia on February 9th, from 11 am to 5 pm. The turn in will be conducted at 3631 Main Street. $20,000 of public funds has been allocated for this political theater designed to delegitimize armed citizens, defraud ignorant gun owners, and increase the demand for new firearms by decreasing the supply of used ones. As is happening across the country, private citizens are likely to be on hand to pick up a bargain gun, while offering more than the city will for good quality guns. Others will be scouring...

A network of pimps lured dozens of women from Latin America with dreamland promises only to trade them cross-country like slaves, forcing them to perform up to 30 acts of prostitution a day, according to federal authorities. And it went on for five years before they were busted. Twelve people — eight men and four women — have been indicted in U.S. District Court in Savannah.

DEKALB COUNTY, GA (CBS ATLANTA) - A Decatur man fired his shotgun and hit a burglar who had broken into his home Thursday afternoon. It is the latest incident of homeowners protecting themselves from criminals. "I come into the gate. I come here and stop and he was coming out the window with a shotgun in his hand," said George McRae, who lives along Elgin Drive. The suspect found the shotgun that belonged to McRae inside the home after he had broken in. "I had my pistol in my pocket and I said, 'Put that gun down,'" McRae said. The...

Given the virulent media coverage surrounding the four 4 “pro-liberty” gun bills I recently introduced (HB26-29), I am compelled to share some of my thoughts. First off, I have received such an overwhelming response of support for these bills from individuals across the state and even nationally that I have had a difficult time keeping up. I want to thank each and every one of you for your encouragement and for your understanding of the importance of the 2nd Amendment and its role in protecting the people of this Nation. The issue of gun rights vs. gun control is a...

MARIETTA — An incoming lawmaker who has introduced several bills calling for loosening of concealed weapons laws in Georgia was told Saturday that his proposed legislation doesn’t go far enough. Carrying a .45-caliber pistol on his side, Guy Bennett said his 22-year-old son was in the Aurora, Colo., movie theater where a gunman opened fire during a July 20 showing of “The Dark Knight Rises,” killing 12 people and injuring 58 others. Bennett’s son’s girlfriend was among those hit in the mass shooting, but survived. Bennett, speaking to a panel discussion of eight current, outgoing and future Republican state representatives...

OCONEE COUNTY, Ga. - A north Georgia sheriff is taking a stand against a Buford gun store that refuses to sell certain types of rifles to the public. Dana Safety Supply has opted to only sell a semi-automatic, self-loading rifle to law enforcement and not to the general public. Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry said that decision has led him to stop buying from the store. "If they chose not to sell to civilians, law-abiding civilians, then I can choose not to buy from them -- that's all I was trying to say," Berry said. DSS, which has stores in...

Bishop-designate David P. Talley. Credit: Archdiocese of Atlanta. Atlanta, Ga., Jan 3, 2013 / 10:54 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI has named Atlanta priest Monsignor David P. Talley, a convert to Catholicism, as the newest auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Atlanta. Atlanta Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory said Jan. 3 that he announced the appointment “with great joy.� “The Holy Father has selected a wonderful member of this zealous local presbyterate for the episcopacy and I know that he will bring all of his many gifts and talents to this new office,� he said in a statement. The...

A home invasion robbery suspect died overnight when he jumped out a second-floor apartment window, apparently after his intended victims opened fire on the alleged intruders. The incident happened at an apartment complex on Lancashire Circle near Stone Mountain. Channel 2 Action News reported that a couple with two small children live in the apartment, and exchanged gunfire with the suspects.

ATLANTA — A 77-year-old grandmother says she used a gun to protect her home from a burglar. Rita James told Channel 2’s Amanda Cook that a man tossed a brick through the bedroom window of her northwest Atlanta home Wednesday afternoon. James said the man tried to crawl through her window. “He got to cleaning the glass out of the window as much as he could,” James said.

Monday was a busy day for Transportation Security Administration agents on the lookout for weapons at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Within a two-hour period, agents confiscated three guns from travelers and police arrested them, , according to Channel 2 Action News. So far this year, TSA agents have confiscated 87 guns at the airport, one of the busiest in the nation. By comparison, 69 guns were taken from travelers last year at Hartsfield-Jackson.

SAVANNAH, Ga. -- It's been more than a week since the Coastal Empire Fair shooting and a local organization is taking action to help put a stop to gun violence in the city. The Georgia Coastal Southern Christian Leadership Conference is working on a Savannah gun buyback program targeting youths in the community. The group is working on finding locations where gun owners can drop off their weapons, no questions asked, and receive a $50 voucher in return.

BRUNSWICK, GA. | No charges will be filed against the owner of a handgun that an 8-year-old boy brought to C.B. Greer Elementary School last week, said Rodney Ellis, chief of the Glynn County school system’s police force. School police investigator Ricky Hilburn determined that the .25-caliber pistol belonged to a close friend of the child’s family and that the boy found the gun while visiting the elderly man, Ellis said. The man was in another part of the house and was unaware the second-grade student was looking around, Ellis said. The boy found the gun in a shoebox stored...

ATLANTA — On Monday afternoon, the Georgia Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case out of Gwinnett County in which a Mexican citizen claims the state law requiring driver’s licenses discriminates against illegal immigrants. Fernando Castillo-Solis also argues that the 287(g) program, which is used in Gwinnett’s jail as well as others, including Cobb’s, allows law-enforcement officers to racially profile. The state statute at issue regarding driver’s licenses, section 40-5-20, indicates that those charged with driving without a license may not be prosecuted if they get a valid license before their court date. The Cobb Sheriff’s Office has been...

The executive director of GeorgiaCarry.org, a state gun rights group, took to the airwaves yesterday on Atlanta’s NBC 11 Alive to weigh in on Wednesday’s shooting at Pastor Creflo Dollar's World Changers Church International, a College Park megachurch. Jerry Henry faced questions from news anchor Ted Hall and assertions by disarmament advocate State Senator Donzella James to explain why his group believes the choice should be left to the churches. Henry’s group is leading a fight to overturn a state law dictating disarmament, and has submitted a petition to the United States Supreme Court, presenting a single question: "Does a...

Undocumented immigrants are surviving tougher immigration laws implemented in Georgia and other southern states by utilizing a surprising tool: social media. It has become an instrument to help them navigate the streets and remain undetected by police. Mario Sevilla, 24, is a construction worker; his day begins at 5 a.m. His five brothers and sisters live in Sonora, Mexico, and they all rely on the money that he can earn and wire back home. Lately, Sevilla has used social media to risk-taking road trips as far away as Tennessee to get to work. “The first thing that I do in...

ATLANTA — The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta had told its parishes, schools and other organizations to end their support for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer charity over a lingering abortion dispute. That directive from religious leaders came in a memo Monday. It criticized grants given by some Komen officials to Planned Parenthood to support breast screenings. Planned Parenthood also provides abortions, which are against Catholic religious teachings. But that’s not the case in Atlanta. The local Komen affiliate told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that it has never given funding to Planned Parenthood Southeast. “Komen Atlanta remains...

A burglary suspect was shot late Wednesday after she allegedly kicked in the door of an apartment in southwest Atlanta. The incident happened just before midnight Wednesday at an apartment complex on Continental Colony Parkway. A woman inside the apartment got a gun and fired several shots, striking the suspect three times in the chest, Channel 2 Action News reported.

ATLANTA - A homeowner opens fire on a pair of armed robbers at his southwest Atlanta home early Sunday morning. He tells FOX 5 News that the gunmen surprised him when he arrived home. He says he feared he would not survive a violent confrontation with armed gunmen. The shootout left his porch splattered with blood. The homeowner, who works as a security guard, did not want to be identified. He says he turned the tables on the robbers who jumped him at his house on DeSoto Avenue as he arrived home around 5:30 p.m.

<p>Chipper Jones said he was asked the other day how he would feel about himself if he were a Mets fan. “I would respect the body of work,” Jones said, “but I would hate his guts.”</p> <p>Chipper Jones received a brief standing ovation at the start of his farewell visit to Queens.</p>

A former fifth-grade teacher implicated in a cheating scandal reportedly gave students the illegal assistance because she thought they were “dumb as hell.”... Schajuan Jones, who taught a fourth-grade class across the hall from Smith’s former room, overheard her talking to another teacher about the test. “The words were, ‘I had to give your kids, or your students, the answers because they’re dumb as hell,’” Jones was quoted as saying about the interaction between Smith and the unidentified third teacher.

Jorge Buenrostro is a recent graduate of Westside High School who wants to go to college and then join the Air Force, but he could be a traffic stop away from being forced onto a bus headed for Mexico.Buenrostro, 17, was among a group of youths at St. Peter Claver Catholic Church in Macon on Saturday meeting with an attorney in an effort of gain a temporary reprieve from the threat of deportation.They were applying for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a federal initiative recently ordered by President Barack Obama. It allows those who arrived here illegally when they...

So, now we have a situation in which the three regions that did pass the tax will have to match only 10 percent of the cost of a project approved for the fund, while our region and the eight others that rejected T-SPLOST will have to pony up 30 percent of the cost of a project. Unless we miss our guess, constituents and local-level officials will be hammering their respective legislators to fix this problem. Given the fact that 75 percent of the state will be pushing for a solution, something should happen under the Gold Dome, where the side...

By 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Niki Watson was trying to find a solution to a new problem: What would she do when the money ran out? The Gun Buyback/Peace Day she had organized was more successful than she expected. By 1:30, she had collected 13 handguns and rifles, but had only five of the promised $70 gift cards and 2½ hours to go. She did receive donations from Deon Grant and Sizemore Person­nel, she said, but the turnout at Antioch Baptist Church was greater than she expected. She was determined not to turn anyone away. In the end, she took in...

T-SPLOST (Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) looks to be going down in flames. Good sign that tax payers are fed up?

Today’s GeorgiaCarry.org v. Georgia (11th Cir. July 20, 2012) upholds the ban against a challenge under the Free Exercise Clause and the Second Amendment. An excerpt (some paragraph breaks added): [A.] In 2010, the Georgia legislature, apparently concerned that the carrying of [knives and handguns] and long guns would likely present an unreasonable risk of harm to people who assemble in eight specific locations [including "place[s] of worship”], enacted a statute barring the unrestricted carrying of weapons or long guns in those locations. This statutory bar does not apply, however, to a [concealed carry] license holder if, on arriving at...

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld Georgia's law that bans guns in places of worship. The decision came on an appeal filed by a Thomaston minister who challenged the relatively new Georgia law that eliminated the "public places," but specifically listed where firearms are prohibited to eight places, which included places of worship such as churches, synagogues and masques. The preacher said the ban forced him to choose between two constitutional protections — the First Amendment guaranteeing freedom to worship how he pleased and the Second Amendment right to carry arms. A federal judge in Columbus upheld...

A burglar broke a back window and pried off security bars at Athens Pawn Shop, 615 Hawthorne Ave., at about 10:50 p.m. Sunday and stole two semiautomatic rifles, ammunition, a gun case and a computer tablet with a total value of $1,850, Athens-Clarke police said. The thief was inside the store for about 10 minutes before he set off an alarm, according to police. Surveillance video showed a man crawling behind the store’s counter with a flashlight, then grab a bag as he ran out the back of the store. The man was white, had a slim build, shaggy brown...

A Papa John’s delivery man shot and injured a teen who allegedly tried to rob him, and police said the man shot the teen with his own gun. But the 19-year-old is telling police he was the victim. At 11:45 a.m., officers responded to 89 Holly Road to investigate the alleged robbery and shooting, according to Atlanta police. Mr. Javares Scott said he went to the location to deliver a pizza and when he arrived he was robbed by a person whom he later shot in the abdomen and right thigh, police spokeswoman Officer Kim Jones said. “Mr. Scott advised...

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- A would-be burglar is dead after deputies say a homeowner shot at him as he tried to break into his home. This happened off Battle Row in Harrisburg early Friday morning. The home isn't very telling, but if you take a closer look, you'll find more than four bullet holes. This is where deputies say an armed man walked up, put on a ski mask and tried to break in. The intruder's plot got foiled when the homeowner fired his gun from inside the house. Clarence Ingram, who lives just down the street, said his initial reaction...

Dennis Terry decided to take a different route to the post office Thursday morning, and it’s a good thing he did. While driving on College Avenue near downtown Athens, he saw a man and woman struggling over a bag. When Terry stopped and backed up to see what was going on, he saw the man punch the woman, knocking her to the ground as she still clung to the bag. “I had the windows up but I could hear the first lick he hit her with because it was so hard,” Terry said. Terry didn’t think twice about what to...

ATHENS, Ga. — Three people in Athens have recently used firearms to interrupt crimes, leading police to say it’s preferable to call 911 if possible.

ATLANTA (AP/WAOK) - Authorities say a Georgia Tech student shot an intruder who broke into a house near the campus. Police say the shooting happened around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday at a house near the Georgia Institute of Technology. Atlanta police Capt. Adam Lee says three male Georgia Tech students were asleep inside their home on Curran Street off 10th Street when an intruder broke through a front window of the house.

While the T-SPLOST vote rightly gets most of the attention, the July 31 primaries will also feature a number of ballot questions for both Republican voters and Democrats. We’ve covered a few of them in previous Poll Positions, and today we’re going to resume that series with a bang. No, really. The third question on GOP primary ballots will read: Should active duty military personnel who are under the age of 21 be allowed to obtain a Georgia weapons carry license?

A 55-year-old Athens man is in critical condition this morning after he was shot by the owner of a Westside check-cashing business who fired in self-defense when the man pulled a gun, Athens-Clarke police said. Donald Collins is under police guard in the intensive care unit of Athens Regional Medical Center, where was treated for gunshot wounds to his face and head, police said. Collins, who is charged with aggravated assault, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of firearm in the commission of a crime, is a possible suspect in an armed robbery of a convenience...