A man who carried a loaded AR-15 rifle through an Atlanta airport recently was questioned multiple times by law enforcement, but ultimately didn't break any laws.
Jim Cooley told WSB-TV that he was thoroughly familiar with Georgia’s gun laws and was confident that his actions were not illegal.
“You can carry in unsecured areas of the airport. Past TSA, never,” Cooley, who was at the airport to drop his daughter off, told the station.
He said he was stopped first by a fire marshal, then by two Atlanta Police Department officers at different times. He told one officer that he was “carrying this for safety” when asked why he had a gun in the airport.
“It shouldn’t matter what I carry, just that I choose to carry,” Cooley told WSB-TV. “You never know where something might happen.”
Cooley posted videos of each encounter to YouTube, one with the caption, “Atlanta fire marshal doesn't know it's legal to carry an AR-15 in the airport.”
In video, a police officer tells him that they have received numerous phone calls from individuals who’ve seen Cooley with the gun and who are scared.
“Well, people’s fear are not my responsibility,” Cooley responded.
Although some went to Cooley’s Facebook page to post support for his actions, many people harangued him online. He disabled comments on the videos apparently because people were attacking his daughter, who was also shown in the clips.
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