--- title: O.C.G.A. § 16-11-126. Having or carrying handguns, long guns, or other weapons; exceptions for homes, motor vehicles, private property, and other locations and conditions; unlawful carrying of a weapon. collection: code id: 16-11-126 cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 16-11-126 (2025) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-11-126 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-11-126.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-11-126/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t16-ch7-11-(v14a)-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=f5e4f5fa_0#page=115 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. up: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-11.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-11-125.1.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-11-127.md 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 / CARRYING AND POSSESSION OF FIREARMS --- # O.C.G.A. § 16-11-126. Having or carrying handguns, long guns, or other weapons; exceptions for homes, motor vehicles, private property, and other locations and conditions; unlawful carrying of a weapon. (a) Any person who is not prohibited by law from possessing a handgun or long gun may have or carry on his or her person a weapon or long gun on his or her property or inside his or her home, motor vehicle, or place of business. (b) Any person who is not prohibited by law from possessing a handgun or long gun may have or carry on his or her person a long gun. (c) Any person who is a lawful weapons carrier may transport a handgun or long gun in any private passenger motor vehicle; provided, however, that private property owners or persons in legal control of private property through a lease, rental agreement, licensing agreement, contract, or any other agreement to control access to such private property shall have the right to exclude or eject a person who is in possession of a weapon or long gun on their private property in accordance with paragraph (3) of subsection (b) of Code Section 16-7-21, except as provided in Code Section 16-11-135. (d)(1) Any person licensed to carry a weapon in any other state shall be authorized to carry a weapon in this state; provided, however, that: (A) Such licensee licensed to carry a weapon in any other state shall carry the weapon in compliance with the laws of this state; and (B) No other state shall be required to recognize and give effect to a license issued pursuant to this part that is held by a person who is younger than 21 years of age. (2)(A) The Attorney General shall create and maintain on the Department of Law’s website a list of states whose laws recognize and give effect to a license issued pursuant to this part. (B) The Attorney General shall enter into an agreement with any state that requires an agreement to recognize and give effect to a license issued pursuant to this part. (e)(1) Any person with a valid hunting or fishing license on his or her person, or any person not required by law to have a hunting or fishing license, who is engaged in legal hunting, fishing, or sport shooting when the person has the permission of the owner of the land on which the activities are being conducted may have or carry on his or her person a weapon or long gun while hunting, fishing, or engaging in sport shooting. (2) Any person with a valid hunting or fishing license on his or her person, or any person not required by law to have a hunting or fishing license, who is otherwise engaged in legal hunting, fishing, or sport shooting on recreational or wildlife management areas owned by this state may have or carry on his or her person a knife while engaging in such hunting, fishing, or sport shooting. (f) Notwithstanding Code Sections 12-3-10, 27-3-1.1, 27-3-6, and 16-12-122 through 16-12-127, any lawful weapons carrier may carry a weapon in all parks, historic sites, or recreational areas, as such term is defined in Code Section 12-3-10, including all publicly owned buildings located in such parks, historic sites, and recreational areas, in wildlife management areas, and on public transportation; provided, however, that a person shall not carry a handgun into a place where it is prohibited by federal law. (g)(1) Except as otherwise provided in subsections (a) through (f) of this Code section, no person shall carry a weapon unless he or she is a lawful weapons carrier. (2) A person commits the offense of unlawful carrying of a weapon when he or she violates the provisions of paragraph (1) of this subsection. (h) Upon conviction of the offense of unlawful carrying of a weapon, a person shall be punished as follows: (1) For the first offense, he or she shall be guilty of a misdemeanor; and (2) For the second offense within five years, as measured from the dates of previous arrests for which convictions were obtained to the date of the current arrest for which a conviction is obtained, and for any subsequent offense, he or she shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned for not less than two years and not more than five years. (i) Nothing in this Code section shall in any way operate or be construed to affect, repeal, or limit the exemptions provided for under Code Section 16-11-130. ## History Laws 1837, Cobb’s 1851 Digest, pp. 848, 849.; Ga. L. 1851-52, p. 269, §§ 1-3; Code 1863, § 4413; Ga. L. 1865-66, p. 233, §§ 1, 2; Code 1868, § 4454; Code 1873, § 4527; Ga. L. 1882-83, p. 48, § 1; Code 1882, § 4527; Ga. L. 1898, p. 60, § 1; Penal Code 1895, § 341; Penal Code 1910, § 347; Code 1933, § 26-5101; Code 1933, § 26-2901, enacted by Ga. L. 1968, p. 1249, § 1; Ga. L. 1976, p. 1430, § 1; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 16; Ga. L. 1992, p. 6, § 16; Ga. L. 1996, p. 108, § 1; Ga. L. 1998, p. 1153, § 1; Ga. L. 2000, p. 1630, § 3; Ga. L. 2007, p. 47, § 16/SB 103; Ga. L. 2008, p. 533, § 3/SB 366; Ga. L. 2008, p. 1199, § 3/HB 89; Ga. L. 2009, p. 8, § 16/SB 46; Ga. L. 2010, p. 963, § 1-2/SB 308; Ga. L. 2014, p. 599, § 1-4/HB 60; Ga. L. 2015, p. 805, § 2/HB 492; Ga. L. 2017, p. 8, § 1/HB 406; Ga. L. 2017, p. 555, § 4/HB 292; Ga. L. 2022, p. 74, § 5/SB 319; Ga. L. 2022, p. 86, § 1/HB 218. ## Code Commission Notes Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2022, paragraph (d)(2) in Ga. L. 2022, p. 74, § 5/SB 319 was redesignated as subparagraph (d)(2)(A), and division (e)(1)(B)(ii) in Ga. L. 2022, p. 86, § 1/HB 218 was redesignated as subparagraph (d)(2)(B). ## Editor's Notes Ga. L. 2022, p. 74, § 1/SB 319, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “This Act shall be known and may be cited as the ‘Chairman John Meadows Act.’” Ga. L. 2022, p. 74, § 2/SB 319, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “The General Assembly finds and determines that: “(1) The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution recognizes the right of the people to keep and bear arms and that such right shall not be infringed; and “(2) The people of this state, to perpetuate the principles of free government, insure justice to all, preserve peace, promote the interest and happiness of the citizen and of the family, and transmit to posterity the enjoyment of liberty, provided that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed but that the General Assembly shall have power to prescribe the manner in which arms may be borne.” ## Law Reviews For article, “SB 319: Chairman John Meadows Act,” see 39 Georgia St. U.L. Rev. 1 (2022). ## Amendments The first 2022 amendment, effective April 12, 2022, rewrote this Code section. The second 2022 amendment, effective July 1, 2022, deleted “whose laws recognize and give effect to a license issued pursuant to this part” following “in any other state” near the beginning of former subparagraph (e)(1)(A) (now paragraph (d)(1)) and in former paragraph (e)(2) following “in any other state”; added division (e)(1)(B)(ii) (now subparagraph (d)(2)(B)); and redesignated the existing provisions of former subparagraph (e)(1)(B) as division (e)(1)(B)(i) (now paragraph (d)(2)(A)).