HB 80: Law enforcement agencies; option to destroy or sell certain firearms; provide

Under current Georgia law, when a firearm used in a crime is no longer needed as evidence, or when a firearm goes unclaimed after being held by police, the law enforcement agency that has it generally must either return it to its owner or sell it, often through a public auction to licensed firearms dealers. This bill changes that by giving agencies the added option to destroy those firearms instead. The bill rewrites O.C.G.A. § 17-5-52 so agencies can return, sell, or destroy weapons used in a crime once they are no longer needed as evidence. It also rewrites O.C.G.A. § 17-5-54(g), which covers unclaimed firearms. Municipal corporations would be allowed, not required, to destroy or dispose of unclaimed firearms, and other government bodies would be allowed, not required, to sell them at auction. The bill also removes a requirement that public auctions of unclaimed firearms happen at least once every 12 months when an agency has five or more sellable guns on hand.

• Lets law enforcement agencies destroy weapons used in a crime, in addition to the existing options to return or sell them, once the weapon is no longer needed as evidence.
• Removes the requirement that municipal corporations sell unclaimed firearms, instead making destruction or sale a discretionary choice for the municipality.
• Removes the requirement that state and county agencies sell unclaimed firearms at public auction, making that sale optional rather than mandatory.
• Eliminates the rule requiring firearm auctions at least once every 12 months when an agency holds five or more sellable firearms.
• Keeps the existing rule that if no licensed buyer bids on an auctioned firearm within six months, it goes to a forensic lab or is destroyed.

Sheriffs, police chiefs, and other law enforcement agency heads across Georgia who handle seized or unclaimed firearms, municipal and county governments that currently must auction unclaimed guns, and licensed firearms dealers, collectors, importers, and manufacturers who buy these weapons at public auctions.

Georgia agencies currently must generally sell unclaimed firearms rather than destroy them, and must hold regular auctions. This bill gives agencies more flexibility to permanently destroy guns instead of putting them back into circulation through sales, changing how firearms taken by police end up being handled statewide.

• Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 17-5-52 so agencies may return, sell, or destroy a weapon used in a crime once it is no longer needed as evidence, adding destruction as a new option.
• Section 2 revises O.C.G.A. § 17-5-54(g)(1) to broaden which unclaimed firearms can be transferred to a forensic lab or destroyed, beyond just those certified as unsafe.
• Section 2 changes O.C.G.A. § 17-5-54(g)(2)(A) so municipal corporations 'may' destroy or dispose of unclaimed firearms rather than being required to sell them.
• Section 2 changes O.C.G.A. § 17-5-54(g)(2)(B) so state and county agencies 'may' sell unclaimed firearms at public auction rather than being required to.
• Section 2 removes the requirement that firearm auctions occur no less often than once every 12 months when an agency holds five or more sellable firearms.
• Section 3 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2025-01-27House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-01-17House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-01-16House Hopper (House)

• Anne Westbrook (D, HD-163)Primary sponsor
• Mary Oliver (D, HD-084)
• Omari Crawford (D, HD-089)
• Miriam Paris (D, HD-142)
• Ron Stephens (R, HD-164)

• gun laws
• law enforcement
• firearm disposal
• public auctions
• police procedures