A Georgia man walked into Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport with his wife, his daughter and, around his neck, a fully loaded AR-15 rifle — and he had the law on his side.
Jim Cooley is legally allowed to have his rifle in the terminal of the world’s busiest airport for passenger traffic, and he told the Daily News he has no concerns about igniting fear in those who see him packing in public.
“People think that if you’re simply carrying your firearm, regardless of how you’re carrying it, you’re a bad person,” he told the News Wednesday morning. “But if you’re not carrying it in a menacing or threatening manner, it should be no cause for concern for anybody.”
Cooley, a Chicago native who lives in Winder, Ga., came to national attention this week after he took photos of himself holding the rifle in Atlanta’s airport, and later sent them to Atlanta’s WSBTV, whose report on him started some outrage over his actions online.
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A Georgia state law passed last July allows licensed carriers to bring their guns into a variety of public places, including bars, school grounds, places of worship and some areas of commercial airports. And federal law only prohibits gun carriers from taking their weapons into a security screening area or beyond.
So Cooley claims the only people who would fear him and his rifle in public are those “ignorant of the law.”
“If they’re concerned, people need to be educated more,” he said.
Despite horrified looks from passengers and obvious suspicion from authorities, Cooley proudly carried his semi-automatic rifle with a 100-round drum around the terminal as he dropped off his daughter last Thursday.
Cooley, 50, recordedconfrontations with airport authorities who questioned him about his gun, and posted the videos on YouTube last week. In one clip, after a guard tells him he is scaring passengers, Cooley replies: “Well, people’s fear are not my responsibility.” In another, his daughter stands nearby, with her back to the camera, as he argues with a fire marshal.
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Atlanta’s airport was the busiest in the worldfor takeoffs and landing for about a decade, and only last year got bumped to second-busiest after O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, according to Federal Aviation Administration data. But it remains the world’s busiest for annual passenger traffic, with more than 96 million people passing through there in 2014.
Cooley said this is the second time he brought his rifle with him the airport— the first was earlier in May, when he picked his daughter up. That time, “no one batted an eye” at him, he said.
He said he was annoyed that, the second time, several people questioned him, and officers followed him outside to his car.
“Why should anyone come up to me and ask me why I’m doing something I have the right to do?” he said to the News. “It’s like asking you, ‘Why are you breathing?'”
Local and federal law certainly agree with him— but does he understand why some people would fear him anyway?
“No,” he said. “I expect people to understand Georgia law. If they don’t know it, if they can’t stand the sight of someone carrying a gun, they should stay inside.”
Cooley served in the Illinois National Guard for 13 months between 1990 and 1991 before he was discharged as a private, according Lt. Col. Brad Leighton, spokesperson for the force. Leighton could not reveal the reason for Cooley’s discharge, citing privacy laws, but said an initial enlistment usually lasts about six years.
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