ATLANTA — After the death of Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, a bipartisan group of legislators is pushing to do away with the state’s citizen’s arrest law.

As of now, under Georgia law, private citizens may arrest a person committing a crime in their presence or they have immediate knowledge the crime was committed. If the crime is a felony, and the offender is attempting to escape, a private citizen can make an arrest based solely on suspicion.

Georgia has had the law since the Civil War.

Three white men —Travis McMichael, 34, Greg McMichael, 64, and Roddie Bryan, 50 — are charged with murder in the death of Arbery after the 25-year-old black man was chased and gunned down while running. 

The “vigilante-style” killing sparked outrage in Georgia and across the country. Father-and-son Travis and Gregory McMichael said they suspected Arbery as the culprit in a string of neighborhood break-ins.

The proposed legislation would disallow citizen’s arrests including ones made by private investigators.

State Reps. Carl Gilliard, D-Garden City, Roger Bruce, D-Atlanta, Don Hogan, R-St. Simon’s Island, William Boddie, D-East Point, and Gerald Greene, R-Cuthbert, are championing the legislation when the suspended 2020 session resumes June 15.

“This legislation’s focus is to prevent civilians from taking the law into their own hands,” said Gilliard, the author of the bill. “Our citizen’s arrest law was created in 1863, and this law is clearly outdated as it was formed in the fashion of the Wild West. When individuals lose their lives at the hands of civilians that become judge and jury, we must use the power of the pen to move Georgia forward.”

Legislative leaders, powerful Georgia companies and lawmakers are also pushing for the passage of the hate crimes bill that has stalled in the Senate.

Both House Speaker David Ralston and Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan have voiced their support for the passage as the countdown begins to the restart of the session.

“This is an important piece of legislation to get right,” Duncan said May 29. “It is time to make it clear that Georgians will not stand for hate and violence.”

Ralston said he supports Rep. Chuck Efstration’s hate crimes bill — House Bill 426 — introduced by the Dacula Republican last session. In a statement, a spokesman for the speaker said Ralston has “challenged the Senate to pass it with no delay and no amendments.”

Rep. Karen Bennett, D-Stone Mountain, chair of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus, said Arbery’s death has renewed calls for the final passage of the legislation.

“Clearly, the statutes in place are not enough,” she said. “As a state, we need to be unequivocal in our opposition to racial and other forms of violence.”

Leaders of the Metro Atlanta Chamber and the Georgia chamber as well as the president of Coca-Cola North America have endorsed the passage of hate crimes legislation and urged lawmakers to take it up when the session resumes.

But lawmakers only have 11 legislative days left in the 2020 session, where the main priority will be passing the Fiscal Year 2021 budget, which has been shaken by the economic impact of the pandemic.