SB 232: 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 and § 17-5-52), weapons used in crimes against a person are treated as contraband and generally go through civil forfeiture, after which law enforcement may sell them once they are no longer needed as evidence. This bill carves out a special rule for one category of weapon: any firearm that was discharged at a person under 18 years of age. The bill adds a new subsection to Code Section 17-5-51 declaring such a firearm contraband and requiring it to be destroyed under Code Section 9-16-19(b), rather than sold or returned. It also updates Code Section 17-5-52, the section describing what happens to weapons after a criminal case ends, so that a firearm meeting this description must be destroyed instead of following the usual sale or forfeiture process. The changes apply to weapons held by sheriffs, police chiefs, or other law enforcement executives after a final judgment in the underlying criminal case.

• Adds a new rule declaring any firearm discharged at a person under 18 years of age to be contraband under Georgia's weapon forfeiture law (O.C.G.A. § 17-5-51).
• Requires that such a firearm be destroyed under Code Section 9-16-19(b) instead of being processed through the normal forfeiture sale procedure.
• Amends Code Section 17-5-52 so that, after a final judgment in the criminal case, law enforcement must destroy this specific type of firearm rather than sell or return it.
• Leaves the existing sale and forfeiture process in place for other weapons used in crimes against a person that do not fall into this new category.

Sheriffs, police chiefs, and other law enforcement officials who hold seized weapons; prosecutors handling forfeiture cases; and defendants whose firearms were used to shoot at someone under 18, since those firearms can no longer be sold or returned to them.

Currently a firearm used in a crime against a person can eventually be sold once it is no longer needed as evidence. Under this bill, if that firearm was fired at a minor, it would instead have to be permanently destroyed, preventing that specific weapon from ever being resold or returned to its owner.

• Section 1 rewrites Code Section 17-5-51 to add a new subsection (b) declaring any firearm discharged at a person under 18 to be contraband and requiring its destruction under Code Section 9-16-19(b).
• Section 1 keeps the existing rule in subsection (a) that other weapons used in crimes against a person follow the standard civil forfeiture process under Chapter 16 of Title 9.
• Section 2 revises Code Section 17-5-52 to require destruction of a weapon or device that constitutes a firearm discharged at a person under 18, instead of the previous sale or return option.
• Section 2 preserves the existing 60-day deadline for a state attorney to begin civil forfeiture proceedings after a final judgment.
• 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
• weapon forfeiture
• criminal justice