A Peachtree Corners City Councilman wants Georgia Lawmakers to pass a bill allowing rideshare drivers to carry guns while on the job.

“You don’t know who you have in the backseat of your car,” District 5 Councilman Joe Sawyer told WSB’s Jonathan O’Brien.

Sawyer has personal experience with this, his daughter Lauren Sawyer-Allen, 31, was shot and killed while dropping off a passenger in Lithonia in November 2022.

“Had she been able to carry that night, it would’ve been a different story; she would’ve been able to defend herself,” he explained. “If I have to use my own daughter’s tragedy to bring attention to this, that’s what I’m doing.”

Sawyer believes this is a non-partisan issue and is trying to work with lawmakers from both parties.

A similar bill in 2019 failed to come up for a vote—both Uber and Lyft bar passengers and drivers from carrying guns.

Sawyer said he wouldn’t stop pushing as his family grieves. “She’s never coming back home, but we know she’s in a better place, and she’s looking out for us, and I know she’s saying, ‘go, dad go, do what you’ve got to do,’” he said.

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