HB1454: HB1454 Crimes and offenses; firearms and carrying and possession of firearms and other weapons; revise various laws

Georgia law already bars government agencies from keeping shared databases of weapons carry license holders or lists of privately owned guns. This bill revises that provision (O.C.G.A. § 16-11-129) and keeps the right for someone wrongly listed to sue for damages, litigation costs, and attorney's fees. The bill also changes the state's firearm discharge preemption law (O.C.G.A. § 16-11-173) so that cities, counties, and consolidated governments cannot ban discharging firearms on any parcel of five acres or more if the landowner or lawful occupant consents, though local zoning limits on commercial shooting ranges still apply. Finally, it rewrites the process for disposing of unclaimed firearms held by law enforcement (O.C.G.A. § 17-5-54). Municipalities and other government bodies must sell unsold, unclaimed firearms at auction to licensed dealers or collectors at least once every 12 months, or transfer or destroy unsafe ones. People who cannot acquire a firearm because an agency failed to follow these rules can sue for damages and legal costs. The bill repeals conflicting laws.

• Clarifies and re-terms Georgia's ban on multijurisdictional databases or lists of weapons carry license holders and privately owned firearms, keeping the right to sue for violations.
• Bars cities, counties, and consolidated governments from prohibiting firearm discharge on privately owned parcels of five acres or more when the owner or occupant consents.
• Preserves local zoning authority to limit commercial shooting ranges or other commercial gun activity on such parcels despite the new discharge protection.
• Requires law enforcement agencies to auction unclaimed firearms to licensed dealers, collectors, importers, or manufacturers at least once every 12 months when they hold five or more saleable firearms.
• Allows firearms deemed unsafe due to wear, damage, age, modification, or legal restriction to be transferred to a forensics lab or destroyed instead of sold.
• Creates a legal remedy letting people who could not buy a firearm because an agency failed to dispose of it properly sue for actual damages or $100, plus attorney's fees.

The bill affects gun owners and weapons carry license holders whose information might otherwise appear in government databases, rural landowners who want to allow firearm discharge on their property, local governments that regulate gun discharge by ordinance, and law enforcement agencies, municipalities, and other government bodies that store and must dispose of unclaimed firearms.

Rural property owners with five or more acres would gain a state-protected right to allow shooting on their land regardless of local ordinances. Agencies holding unclaimed guns would face firmer auction deadlines, and people denied a chance to buy those firearms, or wrongly listed in a gun database, would have a clearer path to sue for money damages.

• Section 1 rewrites the database prohibition in O.C.G.A. § 16-11-129(k), defining 'government entity' and 'multijurisdictional database' and barring agencies from creating shared gun owner databases or registries.
• Section 1 lets a person wrongly included in such a database sue for $100 or actual damages, whichever is greater, plus litigation costs and attorney's fees.
• Section 2 amends O.C.G.A. § 16-11-173(e) to stop local governments from banning firearm discharge on parcels of five acres or more with owner or occupant consent, while preserving zoning limits on commercial shooting ranges.
• Section 3 revises O.C.G.A. § 17-5-54(g), requiring municipalities and other government entities to auction unclaimed firearms to licensed dealers at least once every 12 months when holding five or more saleable firearms.
• Section 3 allows unsafe or legally restricted firearms to be sent to the GBI's Division of Forensic Sciences, a local forensic lab, or destroyed instead of sold.
• Section 3 creates a right for a person unable to buy a firearm due to an agency's failure to dispose of it properly to sue for $100 or actual damages plus costs and attorney's fees.
• Section 4 repeals all conflicting laws.

1. 2026-03-03House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
2. 2026-03-03House Second Readers (House)
3. 2026-02-26House First Readers (House)
4. 2026-02-25House Hopper (House)

• Jason Ridley (R, HD-006)Primary sponsor
• John Corbett (R, HD-174)
• Noel Williams (R, HD-148)
• Trey Rhodes (R, HD-124)
• Charles Cannon (R, HD-172)
• Lauren McDonald (R, HD-026)

• gun rights
• firearm discharge laws
• local ordinances
• gun databases
• unclaimed firearms disposal