HAVE you ever stood in a steamy, crowded bar, jostling other patrons to catch the bartender’s attention, and thought: “This would be more fun if everyone here were armed”? If so, Georgia is the state for you. On April 23rd Nathan Deal, the governor, signed a law which, he said, “gives added protections to those who have played by the rules”. The National Rifle Association (NRA) called it a “historic victory for the Second Amendment”. Critics call it the “guns everywhere” bill.

All are right. Gun-owners who have played by the rules and want to renew their licences will no longer need to be fingerprinted. They also need not worry about the National Guard or a future governor taking their guns during a state of emergency: the bill forbids both, as it also bars anyone from compiling a multi-jurisdictional database of gun-licence holders. Gun dealers need no longer keep sales records for the state, though federal record-keeping laws still apply. Georgia does not yet allow guns everywhere, just in far more places than were previously permitted. Georgians with firearm licences may now carry guns into bars, churches and schools (with permission), non-secure areas of airports and government buildings not protected by security guards during business hours.

Gun-lovers have much to celebrate in other states, too. In 2013 and 2014 eight states passed laws allowing guns on school grounds, Illinois became the 50th state to allow carrying concealed weapons and several states passed laws either making concealed-carry permits confidential or recognising concealed-carry permits from other states. So far this year 21 states have proposed bills to allow guns in schools or on school grounds; 11 now allow concealed weapons in schools.

Yet nationally, the past couple of years (since the Newtown school massacre in December 2012) have seen victories for advocates of gun control, too. Laura Cutilletta, a lawyer at the Law Centre to Prevent Gun Violence, talks of an “avalanche of really strong laws that got passed in the wake of Newtown”. Last year 13 states passed laws tightening background checks, including seven that now require such checks for private gun sales, which federal law does not.

Today 17 states and Washington, DC demand stricter background checks than the federal government does. Of these, six (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, New York and Rhode Island) plus DC require background checks at the point of sale for all gun purchases.