---
title: O.C.G.A. § 16-11-103. Discharge of gun or pistol near public highway; penalty.
collection: code
id: 16-11-103
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 16-11-103 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-11-103
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-11-103.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-11-103/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t16-ch7-11-(v14a)-2018-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=aecbfe9c_0#page=853
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: CRIMES AND OFFENSES / OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC ORDER AND SAFETY / DANGEROUS INSTRUMENTALITIES AND PRACTICES / GENERAL PROVISIONS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 16-11-103. Discharge of gun or pistol near public highway; penalty.

(a) As used in this Code section, the term:

(1) ‘‘Firearm’’ means any handgun, rifle, or shotgun.

(2) ‘‘Public highway’’ means every public street, road, and highway in this state.

(3) ‘‘Sport shooting range’’ means an area designated and operated by a person or entity for the sport shooting of firearms, target practice, trapshooting, skeet shooting, or shooting sporting clays and not available for such use by the general public without payment of a fee, membership contribution, or dues or without the invitation of an authorized person, or any area so designated and operated by a unit of government, regardless of the terms of admission thereto.

(4) ‘‘Unit of government’’ means any of the departments, agencies, authorities, or political subdivisions of the state, cities, municipal corporations, townships, or villages and any of their respective departments, agencies, or authorities.

(b) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this Code section, it shall be unlawful for any person, without legal justification, to discharge a firearm on or within 50 yards of a public highway.

(c) This Code section shall not apply to a discharge of a firearm which occurs within 50 yards of a public highway if such discharge is shielded from the view of a traveler on the public highway and occurs at:

(1) An indoor or outdoor sport shooting range;

(2) Facilities used for firearm or hunting safety courses sponsored by a unit of government, nonprofit corporation, or commercial enterprise; or

(3) The business location of any person, firm, retail dealer, wholesale dealer, pawnbroker, or corporation licensed as a firearm dealer.

(d) Any person who violates subsection (b) of the Code section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

## History

Ga. L. 1882-83, p. 131, §§ 1, 2; Penal Code 1895, § 508; Penal Code 1910, § 504; Code 1933, § 26-7301; Code 1933, § 26-2909, enacted by Ga. L. 1968, p. 1249, § 1; Ga. L. 2014, p. 200, § 1/HB 773; Ga. L. 2017, p. 774, § 16/HB 323.

## Cross References

Prohibition against discharging weapon across public road while hunting, § 27-3-10.

## Other Notes

The 2017 amendment, effective May 9, 2017, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, deleted ‘‘pursuant to Chapter 16 of Title 43’’ following ‘‘dealer’’ at the end of paragraph (c)(3).