GA Carry Laws in Plain English
GA Carry Laws in Plain English
GA Carry Laws in Plain English
Possession
The general definition of possession is having control of
an object. Possession does not necessarily mean
ownership of an object. Since there are different ways to
control an object, the legal system has various ways to
describe the different situations in which a person has
control of an object (active, illegal, legal, criminal,
physical, sole, joint, etc). Most of those descriptions boil
down to a person having either Actual or Constructive
possession. Actual possession is when you are in
physical or close contact with an item. If you are
carrying a firearm on your person or under the driver's
seat of your car, then you have actual possession of a
firearm. Constructive possession is when you have the
power and intention to later take control of the object
not currently in your actual possession. If you leave your
home and lock all your firearms in your safe, you have
constructive possession of those firearms. Laws that
prohibit possession are judged based on the ability to
control an object, which is why it is possible to charge
multiple people with possession of a single object
because each of those people had the ability to control
the object.
(16-11-133)
Registration of Firearms
Georgia does not require the registration of firearms
owned by citizens. Georgia law actually prohibits local
city/county governments from registering firearms when
applying for a firearms license. However dangerous
weapons (as described above) must be registered in
compliance with the National Firearm Act (NFA) of
1934 and Federal Gun Control Act (GCA) of 1968
(information on how to register an NFA firearm is
beyond the scope of this document).
Purchasing of Firearms
Georgia has only 2 laws that regulate the purchasing of
firearms. All other purchasing laws come from Federal
law. The BATFE has a reference page that explains
those laws (at that site, when the BATFE says "licensed"
they mean firearm dealers and "unlicensed" means
private individuals).
Long Version
Reciprocity
Georgia law allows for "reciprocity" of carry licenses,
which means two states agree they will accept the other
state's license. This can be done by a function of the law
by itself or by an actual agreement signed between the
governments of two states. Georgia's law states that if
another state will honor a Georgia Weapons Carry
License, then Georgia will honor their license or permit.
The GA attorney general can also enter into reciprocity
agreements with other states to allow licensed Georgia
residents to carry in the reciprocal state which makes the
honoring of the license more official (the AG creates an
official list, though it is often slow to be updated). To
find out what states have reciprocal agreements and
allow Georgia residents to carry in those states, visit my
Reciprocity page.
State Preemption
An explicit preemption law means that the state has
created a law that plainly spells out that they have
restricted what ordinances or regulations that local cities
and counties as well as state agencies, boards,
departments, commissions, or authorities can and cannot
create regarding a certain subject. Georgia has 4 explicit
preemption laws regarding weapons. Two regarding
fireams, one regarding weapons (as defined in 16-11-
127.1) and one regarding knives.
(16-11-173)
Deadly Force
There are 3 code sections that govern when lethal or
deadly force may lawfully be used.
Local Laws
While state law has preemption over most local firearm
and knife ordinances and regulations, this does not mean
that there are no local firearm and knife ordinances.
Many cities and a growing number of the metro counties
have a complete ban on the discharge of firearms
(except in self-defense). Other cities and counties have a
ban on discharging a firearm within a certain distance
from a road or a neighbor's house or land owned by the
city/county. Check Municode.com or your local
government's website to see if your local ordinances are
online. Also please be aware that local cities and
counties can only ban knives from courthouses and
government buildings (As of July 1st, 2012, local
governments cannot regulate the possession,
manufacture, sale, or transfer of a knife unless it is in
regards to a courthouse or government building 16-11-
136.).