HB 711: Georgia Firearms and Weapons Act; enact

Georgia law already bans possessing machine guns, sawed-off rifles and shotguns, rocket launchers, hand grenades, and silencers, with narrow exceptions for police, military members, and federally registered weapons. This bill rewrites that law, renamed the 'Georgia Firearms and Weapons Act,' to add a new category called a 'rapid-fire attachment': any device that replaces a gun's stock or grip, is affixed to bump the trigger, modifies the trigger's motion, or holds the trigger back so it fires more than six shots with a single pull or trigger function. It folds machine guns, sawed-off weapons, silencers, launchers, and these new rapid-fire attachments into one broader term, 'dangerous weapon.' Possessing any of these devices without an exception remains a felony punishable by five years in prison. The existing exceptions for law enforcement, military members, inoperative weapons, National Firearms Act registrants, and nuclear facility security officers are kept and updated to use the new combined term. The bill also updates a matching definition used in Georgia's juvenile code (O.C.G.A. § 15-11-2) and in the law on using these weapons during other crimes (O.C.G.A. § 16-11-160).

• Creates a new legal category, 'rapid-fire attachment,' covering devices that let a gun fire more than six shots from one pull or motion of the trigger.
• Folds machine guns, sawed-off rifles and shotguns, silencers, rocket launchers, and rapid-fire attachments into a single broader term called 'dangerous weapon' under O.C.G.A. § 16-11-121.
• Keeps the five-year prison penalty for illegally possessing any of these now-combined 'dangerous weapons' under O.C.G.A. § 16-11-123.
• Preserves existing exceptions for police, military members, National Firearms Act registrants, inoperative weapons, and nuclear facility security officers, rewording them to match the new combined term.
• Updates the definition used in the law on committing crimes while armed with these weapons (O.C.G.A. § 16-11-160) and in the juvenile code's definitions (O.C.G.A. § 15-11-2).

Gun owners and anyone who possesses devices such as bump stocks or similar rapid-fire attachments, along with law enforcement officers, National Guard and military members, federal firearms registrants, and nuclear facility security officers who are covered by exceptions in the current and revised law.

Devices that let a semi-automatic firearm fire more shots per trigger pull, sometimes called bump stocks, would become clearly illegal to possess in Georgia under a defined category carrying a five-year prison sentence, closing what the bill's sponsors treat as a gap in the state's existing ban on machine guns and similar weapons.

• Section 1 renames the law the 'Georgia Firearms and Weapons Act' and rewrites O.C.G.A. § 16-11-121 to define 'rapid-fire attachment' as any device that replaces a stock or grip, is bumped against the trigger, alters trigger motion, or holds the trigger back to fire more than six shots per trigger pull.
• Section 1 expands 'dangerous weapon' to include launchers, machine guns, rapid-fire attachments, sawed-off rifles and shotguns, and silencers, replacing a list of separately named weapons in O.C.G.A. §§ 16-11-122 and 16-11-123.
• Section 1 keeps the five-year imprisonment penalty for unlawful possession of a dangerous weapon under O.C.G.A. § 16-11-123.
• Section 1 preserves the exceptions in O.C.G.A. § 16-11-124 for peace officers, corrections employees, military and National Guard members, inoperative weapons, National Firearms Act registrants, and nuclear facility security officers, rewording them to reference 'dangerous weapon.'
• Section 2 updates O.C.G.A. § 16-11-160 so the enhanced penalty for using a weapon during certain crimes applies to any 'dangerous weapon' as newly defined, instead of listing machine guns, sawed-off weapons, and silencers separately.
• Section 3 updates the juvenile code's definition in O.C.G.A. § 15-11-2 to reference 'dangerous weapon' instead of separately naming 'machine gun.'

1. 2025-03-06House Second Readers (Cámara de Representantes)
2. 2025-03-04House First Readers (Cámara de Representantes)
3. 2025-03-03House Hopper (Cámara de Representantes)

• Sandra Scott (D, HD-076)Patrocinador principal
• Viola Davis (D, HD-087)
• Kim Schofield (D, HD-063)

• gun control
• bump stocks
• firearms law
• criminal penalties
• weapons possession