SB232: SB232 Disposition of Property Seized; destruction of a firearm discharged at a person under 18 years of age; provide

Under current Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 17-5-51), weapons used in crimes against a person are treated as contraband and go through civil forfeiture procedures under Title 9, which can end with the weapon being sold or returned to a claimant if unclaimed. This bill carves out a new exception: any firearm discharged at a person under 18 years of age would automatically be declared contraband and destroyed, rather than sold, returned, or run through the standard forfeiture timeline. The bill also updates the related code section on disposition of weapons after a criminal conviction (O.C.G.A. § 17-5-52) so that law enforcement agencies holding such a firearm must destroy it instead of applying the usual unclaimed-property or forfeiture rules. It keeps the existing 60-day deadline for prosecutors to start forfeiture proceedings for other seized weapons. The bill repeals conflicting laws and does not state a separate effective date beyond standard enactment.

• Creates a new rule declaring any firearm discharged at a person under 18 years old to be contraband, regardless of how other seized weapons are handled.
• Requires that such a firearm be destroyed instead of sold at auction or returned to an owner, changing the outcome under Georgia's disposition of seized property law (O.C.G.A. § 17-5-51).
• Amends O.C.G.A. § 17-5-52 so that after a final conviction, law enforcement must destroy a firearm that was discharged at a minor rather than following the standard unclaimed-property or forfeiture process.
• Keeps in place the existing requirement that prosecutors begin civil forfeiture proceedings within 60 days of a final judgment for other weapons not covered by the new destruction rule.

The bill affects local sheriffs, police chiefs, and other law enforcement agencies that hold seized firearms, prosecutors who handle civil forfeiture cases, and any individual whose firearm was discharged at a minor and is later seized as part of a criminal case.

Instead of a firearm discharged at a child potentially being sold at auction or returned to its owner after a case concludes, police would be required to destroy it. This changes what happens to specific seized guns and removes them permanently from circulation.

• Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 17-5-51 by adding a new subsection (b) declaring any firearm discharged at a person under 18 to be contraband subject to destruction under O.C.G.A. § 9-16-19(b), rather than the general forfeiture process in subsection (a).
• Section 2 revises O.C.G.A. § 17-5-52 to direct that within one year of receiving such a weapon, the agency must destroy it if it is a firearm discharged at a minor, alongside the existing options to return, sell, or forfeit other weapons.
• Section 2 preserves the requirement that a state attorney seeking forfeiture must begin civil forfeiture proceedings within 60 days of a final judgment for weapons not subject to the new destruction rule.
• Section 3 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2025-02-21Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2. 2025-02-20Senate Hopper (Senate)

• Emanuel Jones (D, SD-010)Primary sponsor
• Freddie Sims (D, SD-012)
• David Lucas (D, SD-026)
• Gail Davenport (D, SD-017)
• Kenya Wicks (D, SD-034)
• Michael Rhett (D, SD-033)
• Sheikh Rahman (D, SD-005)
• Donzella James (D, SD-028)

• gun laws
• child safety
• law enforcement procedure
• forfeited property