---
title: O.C.G.A. § 16-11-171. Definitions.
collection: code
id: 16-11-171
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 16-11-171 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-11-171
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-11-171.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-11-171/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=163
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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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 / BRADY LAW REGULATIONS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 16-11-171. Definitions.

As used in this part, the term:

(1) “Center” means the Georgia Crime Information Center within the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

(2) “Dealer” means any person licensed as a dealer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 921, et seq.

(3) “Firearm” means any weapon that is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive or the frame or receiver of any such weapon, any firearm muffler or firearm silencer, or any destructive device as defined in 18 U.S.C. Section 921(a)(3).

(4) “Involuntarily hospitalized” means hospitalized as an inpatient in any mental health facility pursuant to Code Section 37-3-81 or hospitalized as an inpatient in any mental health facility as a result of being adjudicated mentally incompetent to stand trial or being adjudicated not guilty by reason of insanity at the time of the crime pursuant to Part 2 of Article 6 of Chapter 7 of Title 17.

(5) “NICS” means the National Instant Criminal Background Check System created by the federal “Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act” (P. L. No. 103-159).

## History

Code 1981, § 16-11-171, enacted by Ga. L. 1995, p. 139, § 2; Ga. L. 2005, p. 613, § 1/SB 175; Ga. L. 2015, p. 5, § 16/HB 90; Ga. L. 2015, p. 805, § 8/HB 492; Ga. L. 2025, p. 1029, § 16(9)/SB 153, effective July 1, 2025.

## Amendments

The 2025 amendment, effective July 1, 2025, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, inserted “of Chapter 7” following “Article 6” in paragraph (4).