If it’s in the trunk and unloaded you have zero requirement to inform (DON’T).

If it’s on your person, you still don’t have duty to inform in GA. Heck, the cops aren’t even allowed to ask to see your permit for purposes of verifying that you have one.

as will keeping a loaded gun within arms reach in a car and no permit

This part is untrue, especially in the instance of it being an AR-15, which OP referred to as a rifle, and not as an AR pistol:

§16-11-126 provides multiple exceptions for this, and states that open carry of a loaded long gun is permissible without any permit at all.

16-11-126 (a) Any person who is not prohibited by law from possessing a handgun or long gun may have or carry on his or her person a weapon or long gun on his or her property or inside his or her home, motor vehicle, or place of business without a valid weapons carry license.

(b) Any person who is not prohibited by law from possessing a handgun or long gun may have or carry on his or her person a long gun without a valid weapons carry license, provided that if the long gun is loaded, it shall only be carried in an open and fully exposed manner.

(d) Any person who is not prohibited by law from possessing a handgun or long gun who is eligible for a weapons carry license may transport a handgun or long gun in any private passenger motor vehicle; provided, however, that private property owners or persons in legal control of property through a lease, rental agreement, licensing agreement, contract, or any other agreement to control access to such property shall have the right to forbid possession of a weapon or long gun on their property, except as provided in Code Section 16-11-135

Part C says that one may carry it outside of those places (car, home, work), as long as it’s unloaded and in a case/

(c) Any person who is not prohibited by law from possessing a handgun or long gun may have or carry any handgun provided that it is enclosed in a case and unloaded.

Regardless, the law is the law. Corrupt local government and cops notwithstanding. I’d rather know the law and escalate it than not be aware of the law and break it.

With just over a thousand people shot by cops annually, up from mid 900s since 2015, saying that it is “increasingly more common” is disingenuous at best.

Nearly 700,000 cops in the US. ~53,000,000 police interactions annually (BJS, 2018). ~1,000 people shot by police. That is roughly a 0.00001886792% chance of being shot by police every year. Annually, you’re 8 times more likely to die in a plane crash than being shot by police.

Edit: you know what, the odds are even lower than that. That’s 1 in 6 odds of interacting with police, and then a 1 in 53,000 chance on top of that. I’m not going to correct the math, but I wanted to clarify that it’s basically a 1 in 300,000 chance of getting shot by cops. The numbers seen by the bureau of justice statistics reflect that.

What you’re describing is a statistical anomaly that is tragic, but still exceptionally rare. Seeing it so frequently across the country is the base-rate fallacy in action.

But hey, be paranoid like that if you need to be. Don’t let me tell you how to live.