Georgia gun laws

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

Lawyer shows up, doesn't bother to answer the question, just tries to sell you his book instead LOL. Classic.

I gave him all the information needed to look it up, including links to the applicable Georgia statutes in O.C.G.A.

Or should I have been more like this:

 

[gh1950]

Georgia Courts are not bound by federal administrative interpretations. Until a Georgia court passes on what it is, we just won't know. You pays your money and takes your chances. You have to be critically aware that the decision making process will be initiated by some deputy in East Jesus County, who will go to the local high school educated magistrate judge for a warrant.

The State of Georgia and the Federal Government have a different definitions of "firearm", with different legal consequences for citizens, so it is not unreasonable to anticipate that the two sovereign governments may have different interpretations of what a specific weapon is.

One thing to consider is that BATF has offices and offices filled with technicians and lawyers whose whole careers are devoted to parsing the finest nuances of national firearms law. Georgia has no equivalent organization.

 

[DirtySouth]

Why, yes I do. But false logic interjected into a conversation about laws does nobady any good.

Ever see what they sell on the counter at your nearby convenience store? All legal cause they are selling it, right?

Nope: Possession of drug paraphernalia is a misdemeanor and can be punished with up to $1,000 in fines and up to 1 year in prison.

Oops.

It isn't drug paraphernalia unless there is drug residue on it or it's with the drugs when caught. You can smoke tobacco out them pipes too you know?

 

[summer44]

Everything is legal until a law is passed making it illegal. So if there isn't a law forbidding possession. It's legal. You can reference ga code on line at the state of ga web site. And read the laws for yourself. If I remember correctly the code spells out pretty clear what defines a sbs

 

[summer44]

See below copied directly from ga code law. The rem 14 and moss shock COULD be deemed illegal by ga state law.

• (5) "Sawed-off shotgun" means a shotgun or any weapon made from a shotgun whether by alteration, modification, or otherwise having one or more barrels less than 18 inches in length or if such weapon as modified has an overall length of less than 26 inches.

• (6) "Shotgun" means a weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder; and designed or redesigned, and made or remade, to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed shotgun shell to fire through a smooth bore either a number of ball shot or a single projectile for each single pull of the trigger.

What you have to keep in mind is that ga law doesn't not have to follow the atf decision designating the shockwave or tact 14 as a firearm only. By ga definition they are both shotguns. You can deside for yourself if they meet the ga definition of a sawed off shotgun shown above. I believe after reading the above codes a case could be make against one for possession of a sawedoff shotgun. Whether one would be actually charged or convicted is anyone's guesd

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

See below copied directly from ga code law. The rem 14 and moss shock COULD be deemed illegal by ga state law.... By ga definition they are both shotguns. You can decide for yourself if they meet the Ga definition of a sawed off shotgun ...

Summer44, and gh1950, how do you suppose that any reasonably literate law enforcement officer, and then prosecutor, could read the GEORGIA definition of what a "shotgun" is and then conclude that it applies to the weapons we're speaking of, like the Shockwave or 870 TAC-14?

"Shotgun" means a firearm that is designed, or redesigned, to be fired from the shoulder.
A gun that was made from the factory without any shoulder stock, and which was not listed on any paperwork as a "shotgun" and is not sold or marketed as a "shotgun" cannot be called a shotgun in the eyes of the law.
Unless, of course, YOU as the gun's new owner call it a shotgun yourself, and especially if you talk about putting some other stock on it that allows it to be shouldered.

If the gun in question never had a stock, was never intended to be used with a stock, and is always found only in a pistol-grip-only configuration, HOW could anybody find probable cause (not to mention guilt beyond a reasonable doubt) that the gun is really a "shotgun" that has an illegally-short barrel?

 

[summer44]

Summer44, and gh1950, how do you suppose that any reasonably literate law enforcement officer, and then prosecutor, could read the GEORGIA definition of what a "shotgun" is and then conclude that it applies to the weapons we're speaking of, like the Shockwave or 870 TAC-14?

"Shotgun" means a firearm that is designed, or redesigned, to be fired from the shoulder.
A gun that was made from the factory without any shoulder stock, and which was not listed on any paperwork as a "shotgun" and is not sold or marketed as a "shotgun" cannot be called a shotgun in the eyes of the law.
Unless, of course, YOU as the gun's new owner call it a shotgun yourself, and especially if you talk about putting some other stock on it that allows it to be shouldered.

If the gun in question never had a stock, was never intended to be used with a stock, and is always found only in a pistol-grip-only configuration, HOW could anybody find probable cause (not to mention guilt beyond a reasonable doubt) that the gun is really a "shotgun" that has an illegally-short barrel?

You are confusing federal law with state law. State law didn't mention anything about being intended to fire from the shoulder to the best of my recollection

 

[summer44]

Summer44, and gh1950, how do you suppose that any reasonably literate law enforcement officer, and then prosecutor, could read the GEORGIA definition of what a "shotgun" is and then conclude that it applies to the weapons we're speaking of, like the Shockwave or 870 TAC-14?

"Shotgun" means a firearm that is designed, or redesigned, to be fired from the shoulder.
A gun that was made from the factory without any shoulder stock, and which was not listed on any paperwork as a "shotgun" and is not sold or marketed as a "shotgun" cannot be called a shotgun in the eyes of the law.
Unless, of course, YOU as the gun's new owner call it a shotgun yourself, and especially if you talk about putting some other stock on it that allows it to be shouldered.

If the gun in question never had a stock, was never intended to be used with a stock, and is always found only in a pistol-grip-only configuration, HOW could anybody find probable cause (not to mention guilt beyond a reasonable doubt) that the gun is really a "shotgun" that has an illegally-short barrel?

After re reading the ga code you may be correct. I am not a lawyer. However I know DeKalb and Fulton County is notorious for ignoring law when it comes to violating the rights gun owners. Until you sue to get your illegally seized firearms returned...

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

Summer 44, YOU quoted "Georgia law" just a couple posts above. It DOES talk about shoulder stocks.

Here's another link to the Ga Code where definitions of such things are given:

http://codes.findlaw.com/ga/title-16-crimes-and-offenses/ga-code-sect-16-11-121.html
_________________________
16-11-121 (6)

(6) “Shotgun” means a weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder; and designed or redesigned, and made or remade, to use the energy...
__________________________

The semicolon between "from the shoulder" and the "and designed or redesigned..." part means that these are both necessary parts of the definition that have to be met to call something a shotgun. A shotgun HAS to be intended to be fired from the shoulder (either the designers of the gun intended it, or you as the new owner intend it), AND, furthermore, the gun also must use fixed shotgun shells (not loose black powder, such as muzzle-loading smoothbores would use).

 

[gh1950]

Summer44, and gh1950, how do you suppose that any reasonably literate law enforcement officer, and then prosecutor, could read the GEORGIA definition of what a "shotgun" is and then conclude that it applies to the weapons we're speaking of, like the Shockwave or 870 TAC-14?

Because your premise about "reasonably literate" is not well founded.

I have observed dozens, maybe hundreds of cases, where those "reasonably literate law enforcement officers" brought weapons charges that had no foundation in existing law, much less something new.

I watched a judge take a half hour once to explain to an LEO that if he could see the handle of a pistol under the seat of a car, it was not "concealed".

Dozens of people charged for carrying a "Buck"knife in a belt sheath.

And as @summer notes, the State of Georgia is not bound by the federal definition of a shotgun, just like it has a different definition of "firearm." Yes, at some level some judge will decided that state law should follow federal law, but at what price to the defendant.