Atlanta: The nation's busiest airport duelled with gun rights advocates today over whether a new Georgia state law allows visitors to carry firearms at Hartsfield -Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

City officials in charge of the airport declared it a "gun free zone" when the new law took effect today. Gun rights supporters, including a state legislator who helped pass the law, quickly filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the designation.

"My message is simple, Leave your firearms at home ," the airport's general manager, Ben DeCosta, told reporters at a news conference.

Atlanta officials said anyone carrying a gun at the airport could be arrested and charged with a misdemeanour.

The new state law allows people with a concealed weapons permit to carry guns into restaurants, state parks and on public transportation.

John Monroe, an attorney for the gun rights backers who filed the lawsuit, argued the Atlanta airport qualifies as public transportation. There are also restaurants in the terminal, which Monroe said should be accessible to gun-toting visitors under the new law.

State lawmaker Tim Bearden, a Republican and a former police officer, is a plaintiff in the lawsuit. Bearden sponsored the state law.

The gun group argues that weapons should be allowed in the terminal up to the point where passengers pass through security to board their flights. The parking lot is off limits under the state law, but it allows travellers to carry a gun on public trains and buses, which run directly to the airport.

Source : PTI